The Immortals
by Just Mosie
Summary: He fell to his knees, hands clutching at his chest, now with a small hole penetrating him. His breathing became laboured as he felt his heart slowly become slower and slower. Seemingly dying away...But he never does die. Very AU.
1. Truly a Miracle

**Hey everyone, guess who's doing a new story? Yep! You guessed right! **

**Disclaimer: Seriously…No.**

**One**-**Truly a Miracle**

He walked down the sidewalk, worn down boots slapping down steadily. His hands were in his jacket pockets, swaying slightly as he moved. A slight, steady wind ruffled his blond curls as he breathed in the fresh October air. He stepped over an imperfect crack in the sidewalk, marveling at how so many little things went unnoticed by people. Shaking his head with a slight smile he continued to the crime scene before him.

He walked up and pulled on the **Crime Scene **tape, flashing his CBI card and entered the scene. Placing the card back into his jacket and patting on the internal pocket, he slipped slightly behind his supervising agent, Teresa Lisbon.

She held onto her pen and pad firmly in her hands as she readjusted her footing, "Jack Carson, mid thirties. Time of death 4 A.M….cause of death is two gunshot wounds to the back of the skull," the tall, broad shouldered red head rookie, Grace Van Pelt nodded and looked over her shoulder at no other than Wayne Rigsby, a fellow agent.

Patrick Jane turned his head to the side, watching everyone crowding around the scene. In all his years of experience with people, he has learned to pay attention to the smallest things. Throughout his…long life he has been rewarded.

There was a young, light brunette woman, probably five foot three and one hundred eleven…maybe twelve to thirteen pounds…standing by the tape, arms crossed over her chest and watching the deceased corpse intently. She chewed on her bottom lip nervously, her eyes slowly opening and closing as she shifted her footing nervously. Her fingers tapped slowly on her arms, skipping a beat ever so often before continuing.

Then there was a tall man, clad in a business suit. He was about fifty, had dark hair…balding…and a mustache in the same colour of his hair. He wasn't too thin either. He held onto a leather briefcase, must work in the law office across the street. He was also extremely irritated about having to be here.

Those were the people who stood out most to him, the young woman mostly.

"Jane?" he turned his head at the sound of Lisbon's voice, he soon met with her penetrating gaze. Her eyes were a deep green, cliché sounding he knew, but they were nonetheless. She had soft dark brown with a slight reddish tint of hair about two inches past her shoulders. Bangs combed neatly right above her eyes letting the rest of her hair frame her delicate looking face perfectly, "Care to elaborate what you have so far?" she asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly before motioning over with his hand that still was hosted in his jacket pocket over to the young brunette woman, "Try speaking to her, she might know a little something."

Lisbon's lips moved into a straight line as she nodded, clutching her pad and pen tighter in her hands. She sidestepped away from Jane and moved over towards the young woman. The woman quickly looked alarmed, Jane knew her defenses were going up and Lisbon would have a hard time with her. Obviously the supervising agent would never allow him the time to place the young woman under a hypnosis chance…not even a minor one. The petite senior agent's chastising was replaying in his head at that very moment…

He continued to survey their entire conversation, the girl kept on lying to Lisbon, he could see a little vein sticking out of the side of her neck, giving away her every lie. Small-crystallized tears formed in her hazel eyes as she looked around warily. She was looking for something in particular…Jane couldn't quite place it. Something bad was going to happen…he just knew it. The young woman knew something was to happen, she was hiding it from Lisbon quite obviously now, continuing to deny and avoid Lisbon's every question.

Soon out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint of something. He turned his head and faced its direction. For a moment, it appeared to be nothing. A plane maybe, but no sound was coming from the sky. Interesting. Raising an eyebrow and staring for a couple of seconds, his greenish-blue eyes widened in fear, the wind picked up and he knew something was definitely about to go horribly wrong. He jumped, arms outstretched as he grabbed Lisbon's right arm and pulled her towards him. He also reached for the girl.

Both of the women stiffened, eyes becoming large, "Ja-!" Lisbon began but was cut off at the sound of gunshot erupting through the air. He twisted his body and heard another shot go off. He pushed Lisbon to the ground quickly; slightly satisfied at the sound of her body hitting the ground safely before he felt something hit his back. Searing pain moved throughout his body, liquid hot feeling as a bullet ripped through his chest, directly through his heart. He threw his head back, yelping as his hands moved upwards towards his chest.

The bullet landed in a nearby building.

He fell to his knees, hands clutching at his chest, now with a small hole penetrating him. He then fell on Lisbon, her arms now wrapped around him. His breathing became laboured as he felt his heart slowly become slower and slower. Sweat trickled down his brow before his eyelids slowly drooped downwards, putting him into a deep sleep.

"Jane?" he heard her clearly, "Patrick?!" she sounded hysterical.

She pushed him over on his back and felt for a pulse, she found one…for some odd reason despite being overjoyed. He didn't feel anything except the feeling like you've been in high tide for too long. The sloshing feeling like you've been thrown around like you were a useless piece of paper at the mercy of gravity fluttering to the ground sidestepping in a rhythm-like motion. Despite his eyes being closed, he internally groaned, wanting this horrible feeling to just be over.

He felt her hands press onto the wound, he wanted to tell her she didn't need to, but she would insist on doing so anyway.

"Grace! Call 911!" he heard her yell to the rookie agent.

He heard a faint muttering of words. Lisbon muttered a soft prayer, Rigsby tried to soothe Grace, who was probably holding her mouth in shock as Rigsby's arms now would hold onto her body. Opening his eyes a crack his ideas were confirmed, Grace was indeed in the arms of her knight in shining armour. He then looked up to see Lisbon, she looked so hurt…

Her hands held onto his face, keeping him still. He felt a teardrop fall on his face, rolling down his own cheek and behind his ear. He wanted to reach up and wipe it away but he still felt useless and numb. Everything felt heavy and immobile; Lisbon's hands were hardly felt anymore. He was slowly slipping away to a deep sleep once more.

"Please be okay…"

He shut his eyes, letting sleep overcome him. He doubted Lisbon would let him sleep, but his exhaustion was overwhelming him. He slept peacefully on the concrete ground. He willingly let paramedics place him in the ambulance and give him a ride into the nearest hospital. It was when nurses and doctors swarmed around him did he let himself awaken. He cracked his eyes open slightly to see a doctor shining a small, thin light into his eyes. She smiled, "He's back."

"He never was gone…" probably a paramedic said, effectively informing the doctor.

The doctor…which on her name tag said 'Dr. Harrison' raised an eyebrow and stuck the light back in the top pocket of her lab coat, "Impossible…he was shot through the heart," there was a slight pause with tension in the air, "This man shouldn't even be alive! Much less with a fully functioning heart!"

"It truly is a miracle."

Dr. Harrison turned back to Jane, still skeptical, "Yes, it truly is indeed."

_And yes it was…_

**This is actually more of a preview of mine. I'm working on the second chapter now. ...soon...I just had to get this out of my head!**

**This is also the product of my boyfriend and I having LotR marathons during lunch breaks...Blame HIM!**

**Like or No?**


	2. Meet Mira

**Thanks to everyone who has read!(:**

**I would also like to thank Sarcasm-the Lowest Form of Wit for being my BETA!**

**Disclaimer: I swear to you, I don't own anything! (Besides Mira) **

**Two-Meet Mira**

_Beep…Beep…Beep_

His eyes fluttered underneath his lids as he turned his head to the side on the hospital-standard pillow. A small headache began to stab at the back of his skull. Repeatedly prodding. He breathed in, everything smelled sanitary…and like sickness to him…and cinnamon? The familiar…feminine scent of cinnamon could only mean one thing and one thing only. Lisbon. He felt his forehead wrinkle as he scrunched up his nose. He lifted his head, cursing silently as the pain in his neck suddenly appeared as the pain in the back of his head exploded. He quickly pulled his eyes shut, mouth turning downwards into a frown. Internally, he found himself groaning once more.

He must have slept funny.

Turning his head and resting it carefully on the pillow, he sighed. He blinked his eyes and let them focus on the current lighting. The pain slowly subsiding, but still present. It soon became annoyingly dull, more tolerable at least. He saw flowers, a small get well balloon stuck in the middle of them, full of vibrant colours. Grace had been here, he didn't understand why though, he never was gone. He never is.

He heard the door slide open and the sound of heels against the linoleum floor clicked as they moved across the room. The door hitting the sealed frame was the next thing his senses registered. Seconds passed before a small, delicate hand wrapped around the railing on the bed as a body leaned over. The knuckles becoming more pronounced as the hand held on tighter. He blinked and smiled slightly, recognizing the blue-eyed blonde woman before him.

"What happened this time Patrick?" she smiled slightly, reaching back and brushing a stray lock behind her pointed ear, "Tick someone off, get another hole put in ya?" he shrugged uncomfortably before he attempted to pull himself into a sitting position. She continued to smirk before him, hand on one hip now.

"What day is it?"

She pulled back, crossing her arms over her chest, "Wednesday," she said firmly, "You've managed to be out for two whole days. I keep on seeing this tall redhead with a fine piece of man along with her…" her line of sight drifted off towards the wall.

"Mira…" he shushed the petite woman before him, she smirked softly before she uncrossed her arms, placed them at her sides, and paced before his bed.

"You're being discharged on Friday, lucky you, sooner than I had originally thought," he shrugged as readjusted the height of the bed, folding it so he could lean against it.

"Meh, they're tired of me already," Mira was silent for a few moments before shaking her head slightly, allowing her blonde hair to fall down her back and over her ears before walking out of the room. She paused at the door, clutching its white frame tightly, "What?" Jane asked her, now fully preparing himself for a witty remark.

She turned slightly, tilting her head towards him. At first Jane was shocked by her initial facial expression. She seemed pained, confused. Almost as if she wanted to yell at him about something else now. Not once in all of his years of experience with this woman had he ever seen her angry with him…well actually that wasn't true. There has been a few other occurrences….but they usually happened when he did something _really_ stupid, "Why must you be so reckless?" he blinked, what did she mean?

He wasn't a reckless person.

He just made quick decisions that impacted his safety…it wasn't like it could kill him or anything. Nothing could kill him. He has known that fact for years, nothing has been able to kill him. So far he has been stabbed multiple times, shot only a few, supposedly 'drowned', and has even been hanged by a noose. Not once has he ever been killed.

Well, no one currently alive could…

"You jumped in front of a bullet, getting hit yourself," she paused, moving towards him with such quick grace and ferocity, "We keep on having to relocate because you are _supposed_ to die whenever something like this happens! If you weren't immortal then maybe you wouldn't be so reckless!"

He cocked his head to the side, "Well, I am sorry that I will not die," the cold look in her eyes flickered, making his stomach uneasy. Mira was powerful, he knew that. Hell everyone knew so, yet she was not strong enough to reverse what had happened years ago when he had first recruited her.

He also truly hasn't this much ferocity from Mira in years; she's always been cool and calm. Mira has always had such a peaceful way about her, rarely showing anger at him for his actions. He really did not see it as his fault that he was shot in the first place, if he hadn't gotten shot…then Lisbon would have died. He saw that as a probable cause.

"And would you rather me _not_ save Lisbon? She would have died!"

Mira stepped closer, hands clutching tightly onto the railing once more, "I'm tired of moving around," her voice was low, dangerous. Fire flashed into her eyes, a feeling of dread felt its way into the pit of his stomach as this woman overlooked him, "I hate having to start over! Has that thought ever occurred to you before?!"

He leaned closer to her, he had never wanted to use this tone of voice with her, and he's never had to. She's always done what he says for the most part, not once has she ever been insubordinate, "Then get away from me."

"Then I will be stuck like this forever," Mira hated this, being immortal. Every time either one of them would screw up, they would have to leave what they had previously called home, she was not allowed by the council to have any romance life, always keeping her in a blunt cynical mood. They left the people they had grown to love behind countless times throughout the past few centuries they have lived.

With disgust, the woman pushed herself away from him completely. She turned on her heel and walked through the door, brushing past another petite figure with dark auburd hair. The figure gazed after Mira for a few seconds, rasing an eyebrow upwards before sliding the door open. She looked inside, green eyes dancing around the room before landing on his figure.

"Jane?"

His eyes met with hers, he nodded, "Hm, yes?" she stepped in, shutting the door behind her. She walked towards him, reaching for the seemingly plush chair and pulled it closer to his bed. The only sound he really heard was the sound of the chair moving, instantly bringing his headache back to him.

"How are you feeling?" she plopped herself down in the chair and crossed her hands over her lap. She chewed on her bottom lip, watching his facial expressions intently, eyes dancing around and following his body's every move.

He nodded at her, "Fine," she cocked her head to one side, contemplating whether or not she should ask him further questions, "Just a little tired," he reached to find the button on the bed, in hopes for it to be put down so it would seem as if he were as tired as he was telling her.

Lisbon blinked, leaning forward and offering him a small smile, "Who was the woman?" she asked him remembering the fiery young woman charging through the glass doors with such fervor.

"A friend of mine, she's a really good girl."

"She looks young," actually she had a couple hundred years on the woman before him. The sad thing was, he could not tell her the truth. It was forbidden. It would have been forbidden for him to even have knowledge of all this, but ever since he became immortal, he was given the right to have such knowledge.

"Yes, I've known her a long time," he wanted to be careful, as obviously known, Lisbon could not know of his true age. Nor could she know of Mira's actual species. The woman was not human, despite how human she appeared. In reality, she was half Elven half Witch. That itself was considered a huge offense. If Lisbon were to find out, her memory would either be erased, or she would have to be imprisoned within the council. Ultimately he would be imprisoned as well for all eternity.

Lisbon raised both her eyebrows, drawing her mouth into a thin line, "What was she so angry about?" he had really hoped she had not caught onto that. To his fantastic luck, she had, "She seemed rather bothered by a few things."

"It's nothing," he knew very well that Lisbon would not let it go, she would attempt to pry into this. He had already expressed that he did not talk to many people from his past, and after saying he has 'known her for a long time' gave Lisbon the exact idea that he actually did talk to people from his past. But in reality, Mira wasn't someone from his past. She is someone in the present-she has been for centuries.

"What's her name," Lisbon leaned back into the chair, crossing her arms over her chest, "Could you at least tell me that much?" there was a sort of harsh tone to her voice, making him cringe at the feeling of unease climbing in the pit of his stomach.

Also, what was Mira's last name nowadays? Oh, that's right: Calkins.

"Mira Calkins," Lisbon nodded slowly, "She's in college right now, Sacramento State," it was also her fifth college she's been to in her life. To her it was really quite annoying-usually she would go into high school for the last two years before entering college for the next four. Usually that would mean they would start over after that, unless she decided to wait a year or two out of college to have a small job here and there, "A junior."

Lisbon's head fell forward then back again. She did not look too convinced about who Mira actually was. Yes, he was lying about the woman-only for everyone's benefit. He had no intention to 'screw Lisbon over', despite what she might be thinking.

"How's the case going?"

She shifted in the chair, pressing her elbow into its arm, "It's going well I guess, when I left Cho had just finished speaking to Matthew Wells," she paused, "He witnessed the shooting and we thought anything would be helpful."

"Tall and bald guy?"

"Yeah, he was pretty shaken up when we brought him in for questioning."

He leaned back more firm against the pillows, "Ah, a guilty conscience maybe?" he clenched his jaw, eyes dancing around the wall, "Nah, that's too simple. He's just at the wrong place, wrong time. Nothing too major. Probably just late for work," Lisbon nodded in confirmation, mouth drawn into a thin line. She shut her eyes, head falling backwards before she caught herself. Her forehead wrinkled slightly, her brows pulling themselves together like a magnetic force, "You okay?"

Her eyes opened, she allowed them to blink for a few moments, "Yeah," she brought her hand up to her forehead, massaging her temples in a slow, circular motion, "Just came at me all of a sudden," she winced, pinching at her temples now. Her brow quivered, she whimpered softly. He raised his own eyebrows, now suddenly full of concern.

"Will you excuse me?" he nodded at her as she gripped both arms of the chair and pushed it backward as she stood up. Not so gracefully, she clambered towards the door, hands slipping once they came into contact with the hard plastic handle. She struggled, hands continuing to fall off before gripping it fully and pushing it open with a soft unladylike grunt.

He watched after her until she disappeared around a corner. That was strange, what had suddenly happened…Mira. Just wonderful, the half Elven woman did not take well to Lisbon hanging around at such frequency, but never has she actually met or spoken to the petite agent. Yet why was she so judgmental?

Speaking of the devil, the woman he was speaking of slid into the room, delicately sliding the door closed. Her eyes followed her hands as she slowly made her way towards his bed. He continued to sit back, arms now folded over his chest as he gazed at her intently.

"Was that really necessary?"

Mira stopped in the middle of the floor and shifted her footing, both of her arms hanging loosely at her sides, "What was?" her blue irises grew wide as she faked incompetence.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," he spoke firmly, making sure his voice would not waver, "Why did you give her a migraine like that?"

"I needed her out of the room…"

"Why?" his voice sounded slightly harsh even to his own ears, "Why would you need her out of the room?"

Mira looked down, her eyes looking at the cracks in the tile floor. Her lips parted slowly, her eyes narrowing as she slowly brought them back up to Jane. She stepped back softly, eyes opening up once more. Her mouth opened, her eyes searched the room once more.

"Because she's more powerful than I am," Mira suddenly jerked her head to the side, eyes once more narrowing, her entire body stiffening. The sound of the door sliding open again and the soft steps entering room made everyone stop, "Oh hello, you must be Teresa Lisbon, Patrick's told me a lot about you," she faked a smile, swiftly making her way towards Lisbon.

"You must be Mira," the woman smiled.

"Your headache better?" Lisbon's eyes enlarged slightly, she took a step backwards, "Patrick told me a few seconds ago, really horrible that you had such a terrible migraine like that."

"Mira!" Jane hissed causing her to look over her shoulder, hair flipping over as well. She smiled at Jane, mouthing 'We'll talk later' before she slipped out the door, sliding it back closed before swiftly moving down the hospital corridors.

Jane definitely knew that Mira was the cause of Lisbon's migraine. But what did she mean by 'She's more powerful than I am'? How would Lisbon hold any sort of power?


	3. Not a Telltale Sign

**Disclaimer: Nope, I'll get back with you later around my birthday-probably still the same answer.**

**I would like to thank Sarcasm-the Lowest Form of Wit for being my BETA(:**

**Also I would wish to thank everyone who has read, favourited, and subscribed to both me and this story so far, it really means a lot!**

**We actually move a bit more forward in this one...and some magic (I had a bit of fun writing it, I admit it!)(:**

**Three-Not a Telltale Sign**

Mira's hand curled around the curtain and tugged it closer to her body. The sound from the fabric curtain moving let out a deafening screech, making both inhabitants of the room wince. Her more so due to the close proximity. She removed her hand quickly from the curtain, leaving a fresh wrinkle in its previous space. Mira paused, turning slowly on her heel as she stopped before Jane, narrowing her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest as she began to nervously tap her sneaker-clad feet on the tile floor.

"What do you mean by 'She's more powerful than I am'?" He put quotations with his fingers for extra emphasis of what the woman before him had said only a few hours earlier. The very same woman who currently could not keep eye contact with him at this very moment in time as she decided it would be better time management to fiddle with the loose hem on her shirt, "Mira!"

She jerked her eyes upwards, finally making contact with his. Her head turned to the side, hair falling into her face as she slowly chewed on her bottom lip, "Um," he drummed his fingers along his arms as he waited for her to answer him, "Agent Lisbon comes from a very powerful line…of…" the woman did not wish to say it, "Witches."

"So, you are telling me that Lisbon is," he paused, pulling his arms from the crossed positions, "A witch," the tension in the room elevated as Mira shrunk backwards, her eyes attempting to stay away from his, "When were you going to tell me this?"

The woman shrugged her shoulders, "I am sorry, Patrick, but this is the first time I have ever met her in the flesh," her shoulder bunched upwards, her elbows bent, her palms open. A small telltale sign of her nervousness, "I could not just deduce who or what she truly was by you telling me that she took an Aspirin for a headache and drinks excessive amounts of coffee in the morning."

He scoffed and tossed his head to the side, eyes rolling upwards, "Oh come on," his eyes rolled back towards her direction, "Every time I asked you if you would wish to meet her, you would shake your head and walk back into your bedroom, locking the door on my face," his arms snaked over his chest once more, fingers squeezing his biceps, "You suspected _something._"

Something flared within her as she stepped forward, bracing both arms on the bed, letting them sink downwards, "How about 'I just do not like to meet new people that I know will die in another fifty years'," it was a harsh tone laced with bitterness as her eyes turned venomous. Yes, it was true, over the years she had met many different types of people, various ages, all who had died not long after they had left.

She pushed herself away from him, spinning gracefully, hands going up towards the air, "Or I hate relocating every couple of years," she stopped, her arm childishly lacing together as she began to tap her foot, "Or whenever _you_ do something that causes the council to order me to have us leave," one arm fell to her side in resignation, the other resting on her hip. She sighed, moving the hand from her side up to her rub her temples in a soft, soothing motion.

Then she sniffled. A deep shudder moved through her body as she breathed deeply. Her shoulders spasmed, she changed her footing positions. Mira soon leaned against the not so comfortable hospital chair, hip keeping her in place. He watched her back move, up and down as she breathed heavily.

"Mira…"

"And do you even know what it was like for me when my brother died," she turned, eyes red and puffy, tears threatening to fall from her blue eyes, "When my mother passed?"

He had only been around when her mother died, not her younger brother, Cedric. When the Halfling woman had discovered the death of her mother in the year 1707, she completely lost it. She almost lost control over everything in her life at the point. Having left him completely…well almost. One person stuck with him, mainly because they had no choice what so ever. But Mira, she had left and was gone for a little over two hundred years.

Her only reason for returning was by the orders of the council.

He sighed, head turning to the side. Suddenly a wave of guilt had washed over him. If he had not recruited her all those years ago…she would have been mortal and probably died about one to two hundred years ago. But was that what she really wanted? Death? It did not make sense, usually people desired for even the possibility to live a long life.

She turned away from him once more, getting a perfect angle so he would not be able to see her face, "I'm sorry," he was extremely shocked to hear those words from her. Never in his life has she ever said she was sorry-in exception when Emily and Claire had passed. The woman had placed a hand on his shoulder, gave him a gentle squeeze, and muttered those words only to leave afterwards, leaving him to grieve on his own.

"I should not have said that," slowly she turned around to face him once more, "Please do not hold that against me," her eyes squeezed shut as she reached up to brush the fresh moisture crystallizing on her eyelashes, "I was out of line…"

He nodded at her, pushing the blankets off his legs. He grunted as he braced the plastic rails attached to the bed as he swung over, feet making a slapping sound as they hit the floor. Once standing, his feet decided to go one way, his knees the other. Mira moved quickly, effectively grabbing on to his biceps in effort to steady him.

"Well, legs must not be used to walking these days," he smiled, earning a slight smirk to form on her lips, "Could I possibly have some help to the restroom?"

She shook her head, "You do not have to use the restroom," he turned his head to the side, mouth turning downwards then upwards again, "I know I'm right," her smirk grew larger, "Come on, I will get your wheelchair," he groaned, "And we will take a stroll down the hospital corridors as we have a little chat."

He stopped her, shaking out of her grasp and ignoring her protests, "I have on question, how on earth is Lisbon a witch?" soon Mira's body grew stiff, she moved away from him, head turning as she began to turn white. He raised an eyebrow, "What?" then he realized why she had so quickly changed colours.

The door slid open, feet stepping into the room, "Jane?" there was a slight pause, "Are you in here?" to him it was extremely ironic how she arrived at the very moment they had been talking about her.

"Yes," his voice remained firm, as Mira shied away into the nearby chair, "It's okay to come in now," he saw the curtain shake as a hand pushed it to the side. Lisbon stood on the other side, carrying a small book in one hand and a pencil in the other.

She stepped in, eyes landing on Mira, who gave the petite woman a soft smile and a shy wave, "Hello," she stated pleasantly before making her eyes turn over towards Jane, "How are you feeling?" the tension in the room grew as Mira fidgeted slightly, legs changing their positions.

"Hello," the Halfling replied smoothly.

"Good, thank you for asking," Lisbon continued to exchange glances between the two other inhabitants of the room, "Did you bring me a book full of Sudoku puzzles?" he wanted to desperately change the subject, to relieve some of the tension currently present in the room.

She nodded, shifting the objects in her hands, "Uh, yeah, I thought you would like something to help pass the time," she walked over towards him, handing him first the book, then the pencil, "I picked it up during my lunch break," she smiled uneasily, glancing over her shoulder at Mira.

"That's very sweet Lisbon, thank you," she smiled, toying with her fingers.

"I guess I should go," she had already turned and had spoken over her shoulder. Lisbon was already two steps from the door when a voice spoke up.

"Agent Lisbon," she stopped, hand already reaching out for the hard plastic door handle, "You should stay, I was about to grab a bite to eat myself," Mira smiled uneasily, shifting her hands inside her blue jean pockets, "It's been a while," reaching up with one hand to brush across the fabric of her shirt, "And now I'm simply famished," she took only a few long strides before brushing past the small woman and out the door, glancing over her shoulder at Jane for only a few split seconds.

Another few seconds passed as Jane and Lisbon both remained unmoving. That is, until Jane spoke up, "So," there was a slight pause, "How's the case today?" her eyes flashed up to meet his…the tension was still ever present in her demeanor.

"Fine," she had attempted to sound confident in her words, nearly succeeding, "Cho and Rigsby are out chasing leads, of course the two stopped to grab something to eat on the road."

"So…the usual?" she nodded, hands moving into her pockets nervously, "Must be boring then, without me?" he tried to offer her a small smile, one that would normally cause her to smile back and wrinkle her nose in that adorable way…but surprisingly she did not return it. Odd.

"Actually, more relaxing," she stepped closer to him, feeling a bit more like her old self, "Less complaints…"

"Oh, so you don't miss me," he reached forward, pointing a finger accusingly in her direction. She shook her head, a small smile gracing over her features, "Oh Lisbon, I'm hurt by this, C'mon," he mocked, pressing his hand over his chest, then cringing at the pain it caused.

He had stepped back because of the unexpected pain. The one thing that caused him to regret many of his actions, were because they usually came with a tad bit of a painful price. In this case, he was all right with the pain, mostly because he saved Lisbon's life.

"I don't think I ever got the chance to thank you," sorrow filled her eyes as her eyebrows raised, "If you had not knocked me on the ground, then I'd have been dead."

"No problem," really, it would not affect him for much longer. Still he was affected by pain despite his immortality, but it also helped him become a quick healer, "I'll be okay."

She nodded, obviously still worried about him, "It's a miracle Jane that you're alive, I want you to remember that."

"I will."

"I mean it," she stepped closer to him, "I don't know what I would have done if something would have happened to you…" she shook her head, her hair falling into her face. He could easily tell that she had put thought into this…a lot of thought and no longer wished to put any more of her time into it.

"I'm okay," should he tell her his secret? After all he would not break any laws set down by the council…technically _she_ had to abide by all the rules as well, "I always will be."

She shook her head again, "No, one day you won't be, Jane," tears were finally appearing in his eyes, he hated that…seeing her cry, especially over him, "One day you will not be so lucky—I just wish you would be more careful."

Lisbon looked down, almost as if she was ashamed by her reaction. Truthfully, he doesn't blame her for acting like this, she had emotions and feelings and that was one thing he loved about her. Sure she was afraid to display them, but whenever she did show one of the most guarded parts of her life, it would always make him feel special—that she would choose _him_ of all people.

That was when he did it. When she had reached up to keep a tear from falling down her cheek, he wrapped a hand around her wrist to steadily bring to his chest. The movement allowed the tear to fall in a perfect pathway down her cheek, leaving a glistening wet trail.

"Jane, wha-," he splayed her fingers out and pressed her hand into his chest. She raised an eyebrow, "Jane—your wound," she breathed deeply and shut her eyes. It must have been from the very thought of her hand resting on an injury he had received from protecting her.

Soon he felt puzzled when a slight tingling sensation filled his entire body. Raising an eyebrow, he looked down, the same exact time when she curled her fingers into his chest, covered by the itchy gown. The sensation gradually grew more and more known, but it was not the least bit painful. It felt…nice. Wonderful. Making him feel instantly at peace.

Then suddenly…it felt strange.

His flesh felt like it had begun to vibrate, making his head slowly feel heavy. He blinked, his lids becoming heavy. His hand left her wrist, falling to his side. Jane's head fell backwards as a pleasurable sensation shot out from his chest, hitting his spine. It moved up and down, making his body quiver, his fingers twitch against his thighs.

"Lis-Teresa!" he gasped, moving a shaking hand to grasp her shoulder. Her green eyes opened quickly, blinking quickly in an odd haze, her hand pulling away from him as she stepped back. His breathing became heavy once more, his other hand reaching up to clutch his chest.

"God, I'm so sorry," he felt her move around the bed, reaching for the pale pink pitcher and Styrofoam cup. She poured a large amount of water into the cup, feeling the coldness through the foam, "Sorry," she muttered once more, placing the cup into his still quivering hands.

He shook his head, "No…it didn't hurt," she raised her eyebrows, pulling herself away from him once more as he shifted the cup into one hand. Jane kept his gaze trained on her as he reached upwards, pulling the gown down slightly over his chest.

"Jane…" then her words stopped-her eyes became wide.

There was nothing there.

"Holy crap."

If a coin had fallen to the floor, the sound would have resonated around the room. It would spin around their heads, rattling around in an annoyingly incessant matter. His heart came to a stop as he parted his lips, eyes moving back to Lisbon.

"You really are a," he stopped himself, refraining from saying what was needed to be said. Even he had not come to terms about what she really was, he knew if she were to find out it would put her in shock-she had lived her entire life thinking that magic was only a fantasy.

"A what, Jane?" she moved closer, still-wet eyes open wide.

He gulped, wanting to look at anything but her face. She moved closer to him again, stopping only a few inches from him. He had to look down at her, watch her every move, to study her. Her had breathing becoming heavier, her irises dancing around in her eyes, attempting to stay on his, and the near constant shifting of her feet. Her heart beats becoming faster, pounding against her chest in a mind-numbing rhythm.

He let out a deep breath, taking her hand in his, strategically placing two fingers on her pulse point, "A witch."

Her eyes widened, followed by a loud cracking sound. The lights blinked before a loud sound echoed throughout the hospital, effectively knocking the power out, leaving them in the dark and a whole lot of other people stopping.

Then there was another sound as the back up generators started up, humming powerfully in attempt to keep inhabitants alive.

He shut his eyes, cringing slightly as he reopened his eyes and looked down at her…still unmoving from her place, despite the shaky hands.

Great.

**:) I just could not resist doing a *little magic in this one. Next up we learn more about what's going on and we meet a couple new characters-that is if everything decides to go with my little plan for this story...**


	4. What Must be Done

**Disclaimer: Hmm, do I own The Mentalist? No.**

**This chapter is unedited, you are warned...but I personally don't think my grammar is that bad...**

**Four-What Must be Done**

As the minutes passed, they remained standing motionless in the dark, their breathing beginning to turn slow and steady. In other words, back to normal. His eyes remained on her form, watching the nervous rise and fall of her chest as she continued to regulate her breathing.

"You okay?" he spoke softly, causing her eyes to flash up towards his.

She nodded, her hair bouncing along with her head, "What the hell was that?" there was a slight waver to her tone as her nervous eyes danced around the room, "What the hell just happened?" she brushed her hands on the sides of her jeans, almost vainly attempting to hide her shock.

He was about to open his mouth to speak, but he could not act quickly enough. Soon the glass door slid open, causing both inhabitants to turn their heads. Lisbon parted her lips, eyes searching in the newfound darkness for the source. Once the door was open wide enough, the petite figure he had known would come back stepped inside. She walked away from the door, shutting the door in the process as her fingers curled about an inch from its handle. Her hand delicately ghosted over the surface. She looked up, her cerulean blue eyes flashed upwards between the two people before her.

"I leave for about five minutes to go buy a sandwich, and yet all hell breaks loose," she murmured only loud enough for the two other inhabitants to hear, "The council will love this," she paused, taking a step closer to them both, "I can already see myself getting a good amount of lashings for allowing this to happen…"

Lisbon shook her head, still in shock, "I don't understand…" she could not continue when Mira held her hand up, silencing the brunette.

"You just knocked out an entire power grid, meaning I am currently in hot water," her eyes flickered to Jane, the once-injured man now leaning against his bed, "All because you refused to keep your mouth shut! Do you ever realize that every time you slip up the council holds me responsible?" she placed one hand on her hip, allowing her eyes to search Jane's, "Do you even know what they do to me depending on the severity of your 'slip ups'?"

No. He did not.

"Do you know how much pain they put me in?" she threw her hand down from her hip, "They can do anything they want to me, because I can't die!" Lisbon's eyes looked over at the smaller woman, eyes open wide in shock. The agent looked as if she were going to lose it, if she had the sudden urge to run from the room, not once looking back as she would stumble down the stairs and out of the hospital.

That agent was already backing herself up towards the wall, one hand timidly reaching out behind her to prevent her from impacting the wall unsuspectingly. Her breathing was slowly becoming heavier, terror filled her eyes at the thought of giving up all reasoning she had learned as a child-her reasoning of course was, everything was all a fantasy, none of it existed. That lifetime knowledge that she has been living by all these years is slowly being proven untrue, the idea that she had been lied to her entire life…

It hurt.

Once she had hit the wall, she felt cornered. She felt that the entire world would soon start to corner around her, it felt like something out of either one of the storybooks she had read as a small child or a very realistic nightmare of which she could not seem to shake off. She shut her eyes, gulping loudly and tilted her head upwards. She almost looked as if she were silently pleading to anyone who could possibly help her.

"Lisbon," his soft voice danced around her senses, almost as if he were pleading for her to open her eyes, "Please…" it was a soft plea, very delicate sounding, "Open your eyes."

She brought her head back down, gulping once more before her eyes began to move. She blinked softly, eyes readjusting to the darkness still surrounding her. She saw Jane, now standing closer to her. He almost appeared to be reaching out towards her. Mira stood a few feet away from her, possibly a bit closer, but not by much. She could sense that…this woman did not approve of her presence.

"I don't believe it…" her voice remained soft, hesitant sounding, "I just can't, I'm sorry," she attempted to move past them, already past Jane when her fingers reached out to touch the handle of the door.

"Your mother."

All she needed was two simple words to halt her.

Slowly she turned, gazing in the direction of the Halfling, "What did you just say?" her eyes fixating on her.

Mira stepped closer, standing firmly before Lisbon, "Your mother was the most powerful witch of her time," there was a slight pause as Mira shifted her footing, "She made history by just being born," the brunette agent was confused, what did this mean?

"My mother was famous?"

The Halfling nodded, "She still is, even after her death. She is known for saving her daughter and giving her all the power she had possessed, " she stood firmly before Lisbon, now only about a foot away from the slightly…taller woman, "You."

"How could someone with so much power conceal it for thirty-five years?" it was Jane's turn to question the more knowledgeable woman, "I do not see this as possible."

Mira shrugged her shoulders, "I do not know, but apparently it happened," her gaze drifted back towards Lisbon, "Have you had any 'odd' occurrences in your life? Unexplainable things?"

Lisbon shook her head almost frantically, "N-no, everything has been 'normal' until today," she looked down at her hands, turned them over. She was having a trouble grasping onto this, perfectly reasonable given the circumstances of her discovery, "I must be dreaming," she glanced around the room, eyes frantically looking at everyone, "This is all a dream, and I will wake up, yes?" she was trying to keep her voice as calm as possible, attempting to prevent herself from becoming hysterical.

The Halfling shook her head, hair falling into her face, "No, Teresa, this is no dream," she reached backwards, her delicate hand brushing her hair behind her ear. It was pointed, traditionally Elven, "This is real."

Lisbon's eyes were on the woman before her, never once leaving her ears. Her mouth twitched, obviously trying to form a sentence, or even one measly word. She held her hand up, almost as if she were going to challenge the new evidence brought forth to her. Her eyebrow twitched as sweat soon began to build up along her hairline, automatically causing her to hitch in her breath.

She turned around, looking at Jane with wide, open eyes, "This can't be real, can it?" her voice now sounded hysterical, becoming more high-pitched as things slowly soon began to imprint themselves into the agent's brain, "This type of stuff doesn't exist."

Jane shut his eyes, nodding softly in confirmation. She paused, her hand moved down to her side before sliding up towards her hip. She stepped back, nearly tripping over her own feet as she brought her other hand up to her forehead, brushing the sweat-slickened bangs from her face.

"You should sit down," Jane moved forward, clutching onto her arm to motion her over to the chair, "Think things over," she moved only an inch before throwing a glance over her shoulder over at Mira. Her lips parted, eyes continuing to dance around the movement outside the room and to the Halfling. Everything became duller, everything soon began to feel as if it were closing in on her.

She blinked, breathing becoming ragged quickly. Instinctively, she leaned into Jane, clutching onto his papery hospital gown. He slipped an arm around her waist, just as he felt her knees buckle underneath her, falling into his body firmly. Mira dashed forward, grabbing onto Lisbon's arm in hopes to pull her up. With little success, they were able to place her into the chair carefully without damaging anything.

Mira leaned forward, fingers delicately peeling back one of Lisbon's eyelids, "She looks fine," she continued to examine her carefully, "She must be taking in quite a bit."

Jane watched the Halfling step back as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Did she really knock out an entire power grid?"

"Yes."

A small smile crept onto the man's face, "Interesting."

Mira slapped the side of his arm, "No, not 'interesting'. We have to go to the Celestial Realm," the colouring in Jane's face left almost immediately at the name of the realm, "Or else the Council will just come here and reprimand me," she paused, taking a step back and crossing her arms over her chest, "And we all know what they do to reprimand me."

He tossed his head slightly back, breathing in then out slowly, "Do we really have to go?" he whined, "They don't really care for me."

"Yes, it must be done."

His eyes flickered towards the unconscious agent, "What are we going to do about her?" he paused for a few moments, "Leave her or take her with us?"

"We are taking her to the Celestial Realm, she must know who she really is, she could help end the war that John le Rouge started."

He sighed, looking down at the tiled floor beneath his feet. Partially because of him, John le Rouge, or better known as 'Red John' began to attack several families within the Celestial Realm. This act brought on a war that has lasted for centuries, destroying many villages and innocent people. Red John had pulled together an army, vicious enough to decimate millions of people with no mercy.

This was the same man who killed his wife and child only a few years ago. Sure he was immortal, but he still fell in love with the love of his life, Claire. He did not know that Red John would be as bold as he was, going after his family. This mistake cost him so much.

But something else also troubled him. He cocked his head to the side, shifting his footing against the cool flooring and gazed towards Mira, then back down towards Lisbon. How did Mira know so much, but made the excuse that she had not known who Lisbon was just a mere thirty or so minutes ago?

Why had she lied?

"We should get going," the Halfling woman reached over behind him, picking up his Sudoku book that Lisbon had previously brought him before turning back towards the door, "Come on, pick her up and let's go, I know you can," then she slid the door open and moved out the door, not bothering to close it behind her.

He gazed back down at Lisbon; her small petite form was folded together inside the chair. She looked as if she had fallen asleep in the position, instead of actually being dropped downwards to prevent her from needing to be held up. He reached down, brushing the bangs from her face before murmuring a small apology. He hooked one arm underneath her knees, pulling upwards before wrapping an arm around her back. Easily, he was able to lift her up, keeping her pressed close to his chest. Looking down only once, he found himself smiling softly as he started towards the exit, not noticing the wide-open hospital gown openly displaying his backside.

What could he say? He was used to it already.

**I had to add that last line…I like humour thrown in. **

**Penny for your thoughts?**


	5. Not Ridiculous

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own The Mentalist, so nice of you for asking!**

**MK-Thank you for reading and reviewing! We don't find out why Mira lied in this one, but there is some light humour in here ;)**

**Leighanna-We'll find out what Mira lied about later, thank you for reviewing!**

**Five-Not Ridiculous**

His eyes almost fluttered closed as the steady hum of the vehicle gently began to lull him to sleep. If it weren't for that petite, feminine body pressing into his side, leaning against him with her head resting on his shoulder, he might have just fallen asleep, face against the cold window. But he had no regrets though, sitting upright on the leather seats, one arm wrapped around her waist, marveling in the sensation of her breathing, feeling her chest move, her breath dance into his skin through the papery hospital gown.

She shifted against him, throwing her arm over his lap as she nuzzled further into him. He stiffened, wrapping his arm tighter around her waist, trying to keep her still. He glanced down at her sleeping figure, the way the hair currently obscuring her face moved away every split second as she breathed. Smiling to himself, he reached down and brushed it from her face, eyes looking down at her.

He heard a soft sigh. It sounded plaintive, sorrowful.

His eyes snapped upwards, seeing Mira's hands flex on the steering wheel, her blue eyes reflecting against the rearview mirror for a quick moment. Her head turned to the side, almost trying to hide her face from him. He felt slightly hurt, but he knew why. She craved love-not the kind of 'love' they shared if one would even call it that. He loved her like a younger sister-a very annoying little sister at that. He wasn't too sure she shared her viewpoints with him on that subject. He doubted she did, she still did however; love her brother with all her heart.

"We are almost home," her voice was soft, almost hesitant, "Only one more block left."

He nodded in a quick confirmation, eyes glancing back down towards Lisbon. A smile graced across his features once more, he cupped her chin softly, thumb grazing the delicate apple of her cheek. It mesmerized him, women could get their skin so silky soft to the touch. It would make happiness fill him instantly whenever he would be able to caress it…to taste it.

But that would be extremely inappropriate.

He almost blushed at the train of thoughts his body was automatically giving him. He wanted to ban them forever-after all, he still viewed himself as married to Claire. He had given her everything he ever could; he would remain to do so, even after death. Sadly, he would not be joining her anytime soon unless Red John was dead…well not soon by the standards of your average mortal, but to his…forty years was more like four.

The car soon began to slow, coming up to the large house they had quite secretly called home for the past few years. He still had the house in Malibu, only occasionally spending nights in there. Usually he either slept in the office or here. He sometimes preferred the office, liking the peace he felt there without anyone around.

His body jerked to the side as the car pulled in the driveway, pulling up all the way before stopping entirely. Mira pulled the keys out of the ignition and undid her seatbelt. She turned in her seat, staring at the both of them, "Carry her inside, then change your clothes," quickly turning around, she pushed the door open and slammed it closed. He watched her dark silhouette as she walked towards the white French doors, fumbling with the other set of keys she had kept in her pants pocket.

Change his clothes?

He looked down, feeling slightly offended when she told him to change his clothes. Sure, the hospital gown was uncomfortable, but he found it a little-offensive that the Halfling had 'ordered' him to do so. Shaking his head, he was sure to safely wrap his arms around Lisbon, gently cradling her in one arm so he could reach over and push open the door. He hooked his arms once more around her, lifting her to his chest as he climbed out the door, nearly finding out the hard way about the distance from the ground. His eyes had opened wide, feet searching for the ground.

He did not want Lisbon to wake up either here outside or covered in fresh cuts and bruises.

Jane felt proud of himself, without hurting neither one of them, he had successfully made it out of the SUV. Smiling brightly at himself, he moved around, slamming his body weight against the door slightly to shut it. Then a cold, chilling sensation built up from his bottom, moving down his thighs and then upwards towards his spine.

He froze.

Oh good Lord.

No wonder Mira told him to change.

He felt the blush develop on the back of his neck, gradually growing as his face flushed bright red. His eyes opened wide, he stared at nothing in particular as he had realized he had been walking around like that until they had found Lisbon's government issued vehicle of choice.

Without missing another beat, he tightened his grip on Lisbon and set himself towards the still-open French doors, bare feet slapping against the cement driveway. He kept his head down, not exactly looking at Lisbon, but more so the ground, so he would not have to hear Mira's patronizing. Automatically, he lifted his feet in time so he would not trip as he slid into the door, not shutting it behind himself. He knew very well that the little Halfling would just shut it herself.

He then lifted his head up high, heading into the direction of the staircase. His eyes were attempting to adjust quickly to the lack of lighting in the room, luckily the moonlight shined within the room. Regardless, he still found himself stubbing his toe on an end table, the pain immediately shooting up his foot. He squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth tightly. Accidentally, he squeezed Lisbon tighter than he had originally wanted to. He felt her flex inside his arm, wiggling at an attempt to gain more comfort. Jane knew he had to do one thing now-besides change his clothes-get Lisbon on a safe, flat, and comfortable surface.

Hesitantly, he lifted his injured foot and placed it on the cushiony fabric of the first step. Gritting his teeth once more, he shifted his weight and began to ascend up the stairs. With every step he took, the more pain he felt radiating from his toe. Truly he would not be surprised if it were broken, he barely contained the yelp threatening to escape from his lips.

Jane breathed out a sigh of relief once he reached the top stepped, feeling happier at the thought of no more stairs. With a small smile appearing on his face, he moved limped 'steadily' over towards his bedroom, pushing the half-open door farther apart to allow himself entrance. He stopped the large, king-sized plush bed in the center of the room. He made his way towards it, gradually loosening his grip on the petite state agent.

Carefully, he lay her down against the velvet duvet. Her body immediately sinking into the mattress. He leaned down, brushing the bangs from her face as he smiled softly at her. He turned, moving closer towards his dresser for at least a pair of undergarments. Suddenly he looked over his shoulder at the sound of Lisbon moving. A shocked expression replaced his happy smile, eyes dancing around the room as Lisbon slowly stirred awake. Breathing out, he turned quickly and pulled open one of the drawers, rifling through it in search of his undergarments.

He couldn't find them.

Rolling his eyes, he shut the drawer, hands dancing around the antique wood. Eyebrow twitching, he gripped onto the knobs and thrust it open, hands immediately delving into its depths. Smiling to himself, he wrapped his fingers around the flannel pants he had kept in the back of his highest drawer. He quickly pulled them out, not even bothering to look at them before slipping them over his body.

"Jane?"

His pants had just reached his hips, securely covering his intimate body parts when he heard her speak up from the bed, "Jane what are you doing?" her voice sounded slightly sleepy, quite slow.

"Putting on pants, my dear Lisbon," slowly he turned to her, almost studying her, soon he decided to become more 'serious', "Lisbon, do you remember what I told you earlier?" she blinked, he could see it even in the darkness. She chewed on her lip, rolling the plump flesh between her teeth, "Do you remember?"

"No, that was all a dream," she wanted to protest; she didn't want to believe him.

He slowly moved towards her, keeping a straight face as he approached her. He sat down on the bed, feeling her move backwards in attempt to move away from him, "No, this is really happening," he watched her eyes remain on his. It was her head that moved to the side, mouth moving but refraining from speech, "You healed me," he reached up, pulling down the scratchy feeling of the gown, revealing his wound-free chest, "You knocked out an entire power grid," he watched her shake her head once more, hair gently slapping against her face.

"This isn't real," she shook her head, hair dancing around her scalp, "There is no way in hell that this all exists," she placed a hand up, splaying out her fingers in attempt to make him stop talking about this whole matter, "There is no such thing as magic, Jane, I thought you of all people would know that."

"No, this is different, this is not like a magic show!" he protested against her, moving closer to her, "This is _real_! I wouldn't lie to you! You know that!" she continued to shake her head before him, slipping one leg off the bed, promptly followed by the other, "Lisbon!"

He watched as she began to turn and leave the room, her hands reaching out before her to paw the air, making sure she would not slam her body into an unseen object, "Stop this," he couldn't keep the slightly irked tone from his voice, "This is all getting a tad bit too ridiculous…"

"Ridiculous? You're telling me that I'm all-powerful! Now _that_ is ridiculous" she scoffed at him, slightly tossing her head back.

He didn't miss a beat, "No, it's not," she turned to him in the darkness, barely able to make out his form scrambling off the bed, "It is you whom does not know what they are doing. I of course, know what I am doing."

"Right," there was a definite hint of uncertainty in her voice, "Now tell me, how do you know all of this?"

"I have been alive for a long time."

She stayed still for a few seconds. His heart began to thud against his chest, rapidly feeling the slight unease fill inside his body. He watched her eyes squeeze to a close, the corners of her mouth upturning as she once more tossed her head backwards, laughing loudly. She clutched onto her stomach, feeling the muscles contract underneath her palm as she let herself laugh out the 'ridiculousness' of this entire moment. He continued to watch her, cocking his head to the side to observe her reaction.

"That's a good one, Jane," she paused, wiping a newly formed tear from her eye, "You don't even look a day over forty," she smiled once more, shaking her head.

"Actually, I am over four hundred years over forty," she blinked at him, crossing her ankles and standing up straight, "I think it is safe to say I've been around for a long time."

Her head moved to the side, her lips parted as a small smile appeared on her face, "You're joking…" but he wasn't smiling. His face stayed neutral-and a little hurt by her not acknowledging that what he was telling her was the absolute truth. Slowly her facial expression began to change. Her eyes soon became larger, her smile disappearing into a more shocked expression. Her wide eyes blinked, her mouth twitched as it drew in a more straight line.

"Teresa…" he began softly, reaching out to her. He watched her body turn, hastily ready to move through now moonlit door. Her head turned back to him, eyes rapidly flashing with his.

She was about to run.

Lisbon moved to look in front of herself once more, moving one leg in front of her. She shifted her weight, ready to leave the room as fast as she could…or if her life depended on it. Her hands moved into fists, she ran, starting off slowly. The cross necklace bounced on her chest, her hair pushing itself back behind her shoulders.

Then something unexpected happened.

A wispy figure moved through the wall, gradually moving into the room. Its face began to take the shape of a man's. An angelic, beautiful man's face. He moved in front of her, body becoming the correct, full shape. On instinct, to avoid running into him, she began to stop. Her foot tangled in the antique Oriental rug lying across the wooden floor, making her trip. She outstretched her hands, barely falling through the man. She yelped, quickly slapping her palms against the floor and pushing herself backwards, landing straight on her bottom and using her feet to push her away.

She gazed up; the man was wearing clothing that appeared to be straight out of one of those Jerry Bruckheimer movies. A white shirt worn loosely on his body, dark breeches being tucked away into a pair of worn boots and held up by a piece of cloth wrapped around his waist. His blond curls appearing sun-kissed, his face almost crafted by perfect hands…

Oh God…she had gone through him.

Her heart fluttered as her gaze turned back over to Jane's. He was moving towards her, pulling himself down to place his hand on her small shoulder. Automatically she jumped at the feeling of his palm connecting with her shoulder blade. Her eyes gazed into him, her breathing turning heavy.

"Well hello," her eyes flashed back up to the now talking ghost figure, "You must be the Teresa Lisbon," she stared after him for a few moments, her head nodding softly up and down, "Pleasure, William Jane, I would shake your hand but…" her gaze shifted back towards Jane's, her eyebrow moving upwards, her mouth twitching, unable to form words.

"You can call him Will," Jane spoke softly, "He's _my son_."

Small sounds left her mouth, her eyes flickering between the two men. Yes, they were similar in appearance…but how? Her eyes blinked heavily, her fingers curling into the floor, her short nails scraping against the fine wood. She squeezed her eyes shut and began to count to ten.

"Patrick? What's going on?" her eyes opened, keeping fixated on the floor before her. Her eyes searched through the floor, moving across it in search of the voice's owner. Finally her eyes settled on a pair of bare feet slowly moving into the room. She followed them up their sweat pant-clad legs and found their owner immediately.

Mira.

"Nothing, Mira, please leave," she watched the woman look down, watching the two inhabitants on the floor before drawing their lips into a thin line. She gently bowed, bending her knees slightly, "Please take Will with you," her eyes shifted to the man, who smiled at her and waved.

"Nice to meet you, Teresa," he said happily as he turned and began to walk towards the door. He breezed passed Mira, not noticing the Halfling adoringly shift her eyes in his direction as he moved through the frames. She followed him, only once flickering her eyes back towards them.

Lisbon had stayed like that. Her hands moving into her lap, keeping her back straight. She refused to breath, wanting desperately to 'wake up'. Jane's grip on her shoulder slowly moved down to her hands, taking one in and holding on firmly.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he smiled at her.

Slowly she began to turn in his direction, "I would need a lot of pennies," she breathed finally, taking her hand out of his grip and holding onto her forehead, rubbing at her temples with her thumb and fingers.

"Do you think this is still ridiculous?"

She looked over at him, wordlessly dropping her hand from her face, "Yes, but more possible."

**A little preview for Chapter Six: **

**"They rounded the corner, Lisbon's body slightly pausing at their entrance. He looked over at her, watching her eyes scan and analyze every little detail about the room. This was probably because she wanted to keep her mind away from the fact that Will was his son, dressed like he was from the late seventeenth century, and currently not touchable. "**

**Please review and tell me what you think(:**


	6. Into the Wild To Find a Secret Passage

**This chapter tried to murder me…I swear it did! I was stuck on the last bit for days! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own! Period.**

**Also~Thanks for the review BFangz and everyone who subscribed. **

**Six-Into the Wild…To Find a Secret Passageway **

Jane moved down the staircase, hands lightly gripping onto the railing. Behind him, there was an annoying squeaking sound coming from the old stairs. He looked over his shoulder, eyes catching sight of the petite brunette's body outline in the darkness. He saw her jump, looking down to be sure she didn't awaken some type of monstrous pet they had…which they didn't. He had wanted one once, but Mira wouldn't let him.

"It's okay, Lisbon," he saw her head turn in his direction, "Just an old staircase, that's all," he saw her nod, almost like she was telling herself that she was being ridiculous. Which in his book she was not, she just learned that she's a witch. To him, that could definitely shake a person up for a little while.

He heard her breathe in and out deeply, almost trying to continue to reassure herself. He was almost certain she still believed that she was stuck in dream world, which she most definitely was not. If it was…then _he_ would have the most active imagination of all time. But yes, he knew he was entirely sane in every way, shape, and form, regardless of what other people may or may not believe. No doubt, she was questioning it. Hell he would too if he was in her current position.

As his feet hit the bottom of the stairs, he heard a low murmuring of two voices coming from the kitchen around the corner. From all the years he has lived, he learned how to pay attention, this skill became quite useful. Today most people called it 'psychic powers' while the somewhat 'newer' term was indeed 'mentalist'. He preferred being called that, it sounded much nicer, automatically making it more preferred.

"_When do you think we'll leave?"_ he heard Will's soft voice drifting around the room, "_Couple hours…a day or two at the least?"_

"_I'm not yet sure, Will," _Jane smiled softly, knowing indeed the affections the two shared for each other, "_But all I know is that the council is not happy with me, I was supposed to make sure Teresa did not expose her abilities that way."_

Wait.

She knew.

Jane looked over his shoulder again, ignoring Will and Mira for a split second. Lisbon was just coming to stand next to him, hands fidgeting with the end of her blouse. She continued to chew on her lip unconsciously, nervously. Again, a wave of slight pity moved through him. But he did have to give her appraisal for taking this quite well, in his honest opinion.

But he also needed a reason to be in the kitchen, to intrude on Will and Mira's conversation…he was sure Lisbon would be thirsty by now…that seemed like an adequate reason to enter a kitchen in the night.

"Lisbon, by any chance are you thirsty?" she pushed her eyebrow up, giving him a slightly odd look. Her lips parted, her eyes barely moved, "I mean it's probably been a while since you last had something to drink and I don't want you to get dehydrated…" both of her eyebrows moved up before she nodded.

"Sure," Jane smiled at her, gesturing for her to move in front of him. She took one step forward, looking over her shoulder at him. He moved, pressing one hand into her lower back to guide her towards the correct room they desired…well more like what he desired…

But also what he noticed was when he asked Lisbon that question, the talking in the kitchen grew quiet. Mira had heard them and he knows both of the inhabitants well enough that they are very secretive when it comes to their friendship…especially when it came to the topic surrounding the council. This gives their friendship a few humourous tones to it, but also some seriousness, in some weird way.

They rounded the corner, Lisbon's body slightly pausing at their entrance. He looked over at her, watching her eyes scan and analyze every little detail about the room. This was probably because she wanted to keep her mind away from the fact that Will was his son, dressed like he was from the late seventeenth century, and currently not touchable.

"Mira," he began, watching her cerulean irises flicker in his direction, "Could you grab me a glass for Lisbon? She hasn't had anything to drink in a little while," she bowed softly, turning on her heel and hopping upwards to sit on the smooth counter. She barely turned and reached up to open the cupboard, reaching inside and pulling out a clean glass and setting it down on the counter beside her thighs. She braced both hands on either side of her and pushed herself down, landing expertly on her feet. Mira turned, grasped the glass and extended her hand towards Jane. He gladly took the glass from her hands and moved towards the refrigerator, ready to pull out the pitcher.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the cupboard door slip shut very smoothly in a very haunting manner. He turned his head towards Lisbon, still clutching onto the glass and pitcher as he tipped it and began to pour. Lisbon's face had blanched, her eyes sticking onto the once-open cupboard door.

"You get used to it," Mira he looked over towards the Halfling at the sound of her voice, "It's rather entertaining at times, too," she smiled and moved past Lisbon swiftly, barely brushing against the petite woman's body with her own.

Jane turned and set the glass down on the island, the pitcher next to it. His eyes flashed up to look at Will, who stood on the opposite side with his hands behind his back.

"Go finish talking with Mira, we need a more efficient plan on what we're doing and I'm assuming the two of you can easily come up with one," his son nodded, breezing out of the room in the same exact path that Mira had recently left.

He watched his son leave, a slight pang of guilt hitting his conscience. It was entirely his fault that he couldn't feel warmth or anything for that matter. He had been so selfish and his son paid a tremendous price for it.

"Jane?" his eyes glanced towards Lisbon, who was now holding onto the glass shakily with both hands, "What are they doing?"

He shook his head, "I need to tell you something Lisbon, and you have to believe me," she nodded, leaning forward and pressing her elbows into the counter, "There's a place called the Celestial Realm and we need to go there," she blinked, her head cocking to the side, "I know you think this is all ridiculous, but it's all true."

One hand left the glass, waving solely in the air, "Okay, where's the 'Celestial Realm'," she indicated with two of her fingers, a small smile gracing her features, "Do we take some type of train to get to it or go through a wardrobe…"

Jane shook his head, bracing both hands on the island, "Like the wardrobe, there is a passage. In the Eldorado National Forest not far from here, there's a passage," Lisbon's eyes grew wide, "We must go there soon to get there."

She put her glass down, running one hand through her hair and holding one hand up towards Jane, "We?" she pushed herself back, hand gesturing to herself, "Jane, you don't really expect me to go with you, do you?" he just blinked at her, of course he didn't want to sugarcoat anything…but he wanted to overwhelm her more than she already was.

He nodded, "Yes Lisbon," she stepped back even farther, shaking her head in the process, "There's a council, they are probably wanting to talk to you…"

"I'm not going anywhere," she balled her hands into fists and turned on her heel, more than prepared to run from the room, "I'm sorry Jane, but this just sounds so…"

Furiously he shook his head at her, propelling himself forward towards her. He stopped not far from her face, taking her soft hands in his and holding them close to his body. His thumbs slipped over her smooth skin, his eyes closing softly before reopening. Lisbon pulled back against him, furrowing her eyebrow. Anger flicked across her features.

"Jane," she warned, "Let go of me," she pulled against him once more, cocking her head to the side, "I'm not joking."

"I'm not laughing."

"Jane."

"Teresa."

The use of her last name surprised her. She momentarily stopped moving away from him, pausing her movements. Her eyes blinked slowly, her mouth parting as her head once more moved to the side. He tugged on her, alerting her to what she was really trying to do: get away from all this.

She shook her head, her hair falling into her face, "I'm sorry, I can't stay," she ripped one hand from his grasp, turning sharply in attempt to pull the other free. His hand wrapped tighter around her and he pulled her to him again, harder this time. Lisbon lost her balance, falling into him. Out of instinct, he wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her to him as he himself began to fall backwards. When he hit the ground, his head slapped back against the tile floor, a loud, painful noise erupting from behind him.

Jane squeezed his eyes shut, letting go of Lisbon with one hand and bringing it up to rub his eyes. Lisbon pushed herself upwards, placing one hand on the floor to support herself. She gazed down at Jane, eyes filled with worry.

"Are you all right?" her voice was more high-pitched as a hint of guilt moved into her features.

He nodded, rubbing the back of his head as he moved into a sitting position, "Ow," he winced, immediately feeling the source of his pain. He hissed as his fingers moved over a particularly tender spot, his mouth drawing into a thin line as his eyes once more, squeezed shut, "Lisbon…" his voice had a slightly whining tone to it, "Why did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything!" she snapped quickly, "It was all your fault that you wouldn't let me go!"

"Aha!" still holding the back of his head, he managed to point to her with his free hand, "So you admit it!"

"Admit what?"

"If you hadn't been struggling I wouldn't be in pain!" his hand was still raised in the air, but no longer pointing in her direction, "Seriously woman, you could really kill someone," he rubbed his head once more, eyes moving into hers.

She was about to speak when the sound of footsteps interrupted her. First she saw bare feet appearing before her, gracefully dancing across the floor as they came nearer. She looked up, following them until her eyes landed on the owner's face: Mira. Of course.

Mira held onto a toothbrush, her hair pulled back tightly as she looked down at the two people on the floor, "Well, we're leaving for Eldorado in about thirty minutes, I hope you get up soon Patrick," she then turned and headed back, not once looking over her shoulder.

Jane quickly pulled himself into a standing position, one hand resting on the island's counter and the other at his side, no longer behind his head, "So we're going now?" he called after the Halfling.

The Halfling only nodded, not turning around as she turned around the corner, heading back towards the staircase. A small smile crept across Jane's features as he turned and glanced back at Lisbon, who was pulling herself up.

"If I were you, I would go to the bathroom before we hit the road."

* * *

One thing that truly scared Jane was silence. It made him feel as if everyone was staring at him, watching him like they waiting for him to slip up or make some kind of mistake. Almost like they were plotting something. That was what was killing him now, the silence filling the air of Mira's Jeep as she drove down a trail. The delicate hum of the engine and the sound of the tires moving across the smooth pavement.

Eldorado National Forest was about an hour east of Sacramento, maybe even less thanks to the Halfling's driving. Every time he would go here, he would dread visiting the Celestial Realm. Every visit brought back fouler memories than the trip before, this was partially due to the problem that the council hated his very being. Of course he had tried to redeem himself on several occasions, all of which have blown out of preportion, especially after the death of his family. The council had wanted him imprisoned, but they knew they could not actually do so. Instead Mira had been brutally beaten for it all. After that it had taken her three months to fully recover back to her original strength.

She rarely ever spoke of it, knowing it brought back tender memories for him as well.

So, he just hoped he would be able to look around at the scenery around him and just lose himself like any ordinary person would. Oh how he would kill for a somewhat more normal lifestyle where the Celestial Realm meant nothing to him. Where someone can mention it to him and all he will do is cock his head and raise an eyebrow in curiosity. That was definitely not an option right now.

The car jerked to the right, leaving the pavement and onto a gravel road. The small stones began were crushed under the weight of the tires, the sounds marking their protests. Lisbon moved from her window, moving closer to Jane out of surprise. Her breathing became heavier as her chest moved up and down once more, indicating that she was still not accustomed to what was to come.

"Sorry," his gaze flickered to Mira's form as she moved one hand from the armrest and back to the steering wheel to gain better control of the Jeep, "The roads are a bit bumpy," out of the corner of his eye, he watched Lisbon nod her head, her gaze remaining wide and alert.

"You okay?" he watched her gaze move towards him, her eyes sill no doubt questioning her sanity, "It's gonna be all right," she nodded, turning her body to look out the window once more, eyes gazing up at the stars peppering the night sky.

"Where is this 'passage?'" her voice sounded small, frightened, hesitant, "Why is this all so important?"

Jane opened his mouth, more than prepared to say what was needed, but Mira beat him to it, "The passage is within the trees by the lake," her grip tightened on the wheel, "And there's a war going on, ever since the sixteenth century a war between good and evil has been occurring. Many die each day, mostly on our side. We need someone powerful enough to end it all, you," there was a slight pause, "Plus the council needs to meet you, now that you know that you are a witch."

Lisbon looked back over at Jane, who nodded at her, "It's true," he voice was soft and smooth, very much reassuring, "And you can make Mira and I mortal again."

"Oh, and make me…tangible," both inhabitants of the back seat looked up, gazing at the man sitting in the front passenger seat, "Oh come on, I at least get some part of this deal, don't I?" Jane chuckled, knowing that Will was joking. Lisbon looked over at him, then back at his son, both men were wearing the identically smile.

It was creepy.

Moments later, the Jeep jolted to a stop, both Jane and Lisbon lurching forward, their seatbelts aggressively pulling them back. Lisbon reached up, almost clawing at the belt to get it away from her neck, now red and irritated. A click and a door opened as the Halfling stepped out of the vehicle. She slammed the door shut, already walking a fast pace ahead of Jane and Lisbon. Will was by her side, having only moved through the door of the Jeep.

Jane reached down, unfastening his seat belt before hands grasping the handle and pushing the door open. He stepped down from the Jeep, turning to look back into the interior of the car, "Come on Lisbon," he gestured for her to come with him, "It'll be easier this way."

She nodded, hands solemnly reaching down and freeing herself of her restraint. She brushed her neck again, feeling the irritated skin and she winced. Jane felt a pang of guilt hit him as he noticed what had happened to her, he felt that it was slightly his fault, but then again it was the Halfling's reckless driving.

Without much more words, Lisbon climbed across and moved out through his door, he stepped back giving her more room. Her hand wrapped around the door, shutting it as she spun around and her gaze caught onto Jane's once more.

"Are we going to do this?" she asked him firmly, still unsure of what they were going to do.

He nodded, "Yes, follow me," his fingers touched her elbow, pushing her in the direction that Mira had previously gone. Lisbon had to squint at the trees before her, hoping not to lose sight of what was in front of her. Straightening up her posture and clutching onto her jacket, she set off, Jane following behind her only to be sure she would not run away from him, or from what was to come.

Jane knew Lisbon was still questioning everything, he could tell by the way her head would move as she would take in the hauntingly tall trees looming over them. He knew Lisbon was a brave woman filled with courage, but she was not used to being in a national park during the mere hours of the morning. However, he could say he has been in this park before during the early morning. That was the last time he went to the Celestial Realm. Almost an entirely different reason.

When he noticed Lisbon was about to go the wrong way, he clenched his hands into fists, jogging forward to catch up with her. Her head whipped around, eyes trying to focus on his moving figure as he neared her. He stopped, touching her arm and pointing in a different direction off the trail. She quirked her eyebrow, trying to tug her arm from his grasp.

"I think we should stay on the path," she gestured before her at the long, narrow pathway probably making only a loop around the park, "It'll be easier."

"Actually, we go off the trail right here," he pointed in the direction of where he had wanted to go earlier. If he remembered correctly, once they were off the trail and hiking for about twenty minutes, then they will hit their destination. The passageway leading them to the Celestial Realm.

If Cho or Rigsby were here and knew about this whole ordeal, he might place a bet on whether or not Mira had actually reached the passageway. Of course she was going to wait for them, Lisbon was inexperienced with opening the passageway and he…lacked the skills. If he were to try to do it, nothing would happen. It's because realistically he is not a 'magical being'. He's just an immortal human that knows a lot.

He could tell by the look in her eyes that she did not want to move off the trail, her eyes searching his for any joke he was trying to play on her. He would not try to joke around with her about this, in a way this had a lot to do with Red John, he was one of the major reasons why they had to essentially leave Earth.

"We have to, Lisbon, it's the only way to get there," he tugged on her again, she obeyed this time, giving him only a little resistance.

Jane looked over his shoulder, seeing her still looking around before he pushed her forward, indicating with a slight nod of his head for her to move forward through the trees. She looked back beginning to move forward once more through the trees.

He had to say he was a bit proud of her for this.

* * *

He was wrong.

This was not taking only a mere twenty minutes as he had originally thought. They had not gotten lost, but Lisbon was being hesitant with her movements. She spent the majority of the time walking around to be sure that she would not step on anything or no one or nothing would come out of nowhere and 'grab her' as she had said ten minutes ago. He had chuckled at that statement, earning a glare from her. It was nice that there was still some of the normality left in their relationship.

By the time they had reached their destination, Mira had definitely arrived. She stood in front of the shimmery lake, pacing back and forth and speaking quietly with Will. Jane knowing their words were probably private, so he made some noise to alert them. Since the day those two met each other, there was always something between them. It added to his guilt.

"Where have you been?" she crossed her arms over her chest as she shifted her footing, "It has been about an hour and yet we are still here."

Jane shrugged, "Got lost I guess, not much I could do," she rolled her eyes before flickering her gaze to Lisbon, who was now standing behind him and looking at the lake before her.

"The lake is the passageway," Lisbon's eyes moved upwards, catching with the Halfling's, "We use the lake to enter the Celestial Realm, it can be tricky, but I know how to do it," Lisbon nodded.

"Are we going to do this or not," the petite brunette stated rather fatigued, "I just want to sleep."

Mira nodded, turning to Jane, "Ready?" he nodded as she turned back towards the lake.

She slowly walked forward, the lack of moonlight making it hard to see her body. She stopped before hitting the water, she backed up slightly, leaned down and rested her hand just about the water. One finger dipped into the water, sending ripples, growing larger and larger. Her finger remained there, softly lighting up the water. The light had originally started out soft, slowly growing larger as it glowed brighter. Soon it began to overtake the entire lake, highlighting everything, making the ripples more noticeable than ever.

Mira turned back towards the three people behind her, the white light now glowing from the lake highlighting everything around them. She smiled softly, turning back and raising her hands. The water began to part, pushing itself back as the sandy floor was seen below it. She put her hands down, the water remaining in its place.

A soft white circle in the middle of the floor lit up, the light emitting from the ground becoming blindingly radiant. Wind picked up, constantly brushing against the trees, never stopping. The Halfling began to step forward, towards the circle. Will followed her, only a few steps behind. Jane looked back at Lisbon, his eyes softened as he reached his hand out to her, gesturing with his head for her to move forward with him. Her eyes widened, he watched her back up, wanting to leave immediately.

"I can't," she turned back about ready to run back towards the Jeep to head back to civilization…to try to wake up from this bizarre dream, "I'm sorry Jane."

He shook his head, running forward and wrapping a hand around her wrist. Her brow furrowed as she attempted to pull it back against her body. He tugged on her again, pulling her body closer to him. Jane wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her back towards where the water would have initially been.

Lisbon began to struggle, to jerk wildly in his arms, "Jane, let go of me!" her voice became higher, "Jane!"

"I'm sorry Lisbon, I can't."

Lisbon was about to hit him in the nose to make him let go of her. She had begun to move her arm back, preparing for the hit. Jane shut his eyes, knowing well of what was to happen, but nothing did. He opened his eyes, her arm by her side, her eyes wide with fear. She was speechless, she wouldn't say anything, this worried him. He straightened her in his arms, about ready to study her when he felt a force push them both forward at an exhilarating speed.

When they hit the circle, the wind picked up at a great speed. The light began to surround them, engulfing them. All of a sudden it was like there was nothing below there feet. Jane felt Lisbon tighten her grip around him, he couldn't see her, his eyes were closed, but he heard her scream, right in his ear as everything started to spin. He squeezed his eyes shut, almost wanting this to end as much as she did.

**Please review? I don't bite. Promise.**


	7. Like a Differnet Time Period

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist, I pinkie swear!**

**MK: Surprisingly not much of a cream fan, but I will take the fudge ;)**

**Leighannamarie: Cousin! Thanks! :)  
**

**Seven-Like a Different Time Period**

Everything was spinning. He felt his entire body continue to move as he lay flat on his back, eyes not wanting to open to keep the dizziness to a minimum. He heard shuffling beside him followed by leaves rustling. Automatically he turned his head towards the direction of the sound, eyes barely opening. His eyes refused to focus, everything continued to spin. He felt himself grow cross-eyed and lightheaded, feeling the ground move continue to spin beneath his body. Shutting his eyes one time, he reopened them, blinking softly as slowly his vision began to focus on the tall trees above him. He breathed in and out…they were here.

"You okay?" he turned his head, facing the voice's direction, "I think you hit the ground quite hard," he nodded, pushing himself into a sitting position and immediately regretting it.

He placed his hand on the side of his head, steadying it, "Woah, yeah, definitely hit the ground hard," he shook his head, making the feeling worse and ridding his hair of the dead leaves, "Ah- Lisbon?" he turned, looking for the petite brunette. He had not heard anything of her since their arrival and felt worried for her, "Lisbon!" he pushed himself up again, swaying on his feet as he stumbled towards a nearby tree, clutching onto it and barely cutting his palms.

Mira was standing up right next to him, trying to scan the darkened glade for any source of the state agent, "I do not see her," she spoke firmly, standing on her toes, "I doubt she could have gotten up and walked off."

Jane shook his head, "No, Lisbon would not do that, especially not here," he let go of the tree, stumbling forward before regaining his balance, "Teresa!" he shouted, eyes squinting to try and adjust to the dark night surrounding them, "Teresa Lisbon!" he shouted again, suddenly hearing the rustling of a bush behind him, "Lisbon?"

Just as if on command, Lisbon stumbled from behind a bush, her hair in disarray and her clothes slightly disheveled. Dirt was present on the side of her cheek, barely noticeable as a patch of moonlight moved from behind a cloud. Feeling of relief filled his body at the sight of the petite agent, he could not afford to lose her, and neither could the Celestial Realm for that matter. She was far too important according to Mira.

"Lisbon, are you okay?" her eyes flickered up to meet up with his, her hand reached up, holding onto the side of her head as she nodded softly, "Are you sure?" she nodded again, staggering forward and stumbling slightly, reaching out with one hand to steady herself against the tree.

"I feel…tired."

He nodded, "Yes, Um," he looked over at Mira, who was lightly walking up to them, now hardly noticeable due to the moonlight moving behind a batch of clouds, "Mira, do you have a place in mind where we could stay for the remainder of the evening?"

She nodded, "Yes, but we will have to walk a bit, I am sorry," she pointed over her shoulder, her head following as she looked over it. Will, who stood behind her automatically looked over his shoulder, a small smile becoming present on his features, "When we do arrive, I will have to ask you to stay awake for two hours, Patrick, as I do need my sleep."

"All right, that seems fair," she nodded, turning on her heel, head remaining to look after them as she gestured with her hand for them to follow her.

"Come along."

Jane looked over at Lisbon, tipping his head to the side to motion for her to follow the Halfling. Lisbon watched him, shifting her weight on her feet as she looked forward. She took one step forward, almost recoiling until he wrapped his hand around her elbow to pull her in front of him. If something bad were to happen in this forest, he would 'block' whatever ambush or attack that would be put onto them, at least until Mira would come along to 'save' them. Unless Lisbon were able to miraculously learn how to do some kind of defensive spell of some sort.

To him, the walk was not all that bad. Though he did not like the sounds of sudden movement within the bushes, it kept both him and Lisbon on high alert. The good news was that Mira had not come back to warn them of something 'bad' or 'evil' lurking in the forest. She would be able to sense it. So in other words, he felt as if he did not have to worry about this…even though he did. Like it was made known earlier to him, Lisbon was important and mortal. It was important that she were to stay alive. All he needed was a bit more information from Mira, but until then he would have to stick to what he knew so far.

For Lisbon, the walk was difficult. She jumped and moved around at the sound of a creature roaming around behind the bushes. At the very most it would be a group of pixies, those little glittery and mischievous creatures tended to like the nighttime, giving them the 'upper hand' at coming behind someone and scaring them out of their skin. Also the soft, high-pitched whispers may have tipped them off at their true identity, and maybe a few glints of the glittery dust that lit up a small space before disintegrating into nothing.

Another little high-pitched laugh sounded as leaves rustled. Lisbon jumped backwards, her head going back as she squeezed her eyes shut. Jane chuckled softly at her reaction, smiling brightly, "Just a bunch of pixies, that's all."

Lisbon's eyes opened wide, "Jane, you can't honestly expect me to believe that there are _pixies_ here do you? Do you really think I'm that delusional?"

He shook his head, "Oh you are not 'delusional'," he quoted with his fingers, "Not by any means," he smiled, "But really, there are pixies behind those bushes over there," he pointed behind her, watching as her body turned around to narrow her eyes in the direction of the rustling leaves, "Come out now," he said softly, crouching down after a few moments, "We're not going to harm you."

"Jane, this is a waste of ti-," she stopped at the sight of a loan, glittery figure emerged from a leaf. She was unable to see this 'pixie' properly because of her size, but because she was lit up almost like a firefly, she could see the small angelic features the young…thing appeared to have, "Pixies?"

Jane smiled even brighter, nodding as he extended his hand, palms flat so the pixie could fly into his palm, landing lightly. Her small wings stopped moving, the 'pixie dust' settling around her before leaving without a trace. Jane stood slowly, using his other hand to place in front of the pixie. Lisbon watched as the 'pixie' grasped onto his index finger to keep herself steady. Jane stopped moving closer to Lisbon, who steps back.

"She's not going to hurt you," he extended his hand towards her, removing the other so Lisbon could fully see the little greenish-yellow pixie. Lisbon blinked, moving closer to study the small figure standing on Jane's palm. She crouched down, one eyebrow quirked upwards as she gazed at the small creature.

"Rosina," her little wings twitched, glittery dust emitting from them, "What is your name?"

"Teresa," Lisbon said quickly, still in shock as she gazed down at the creature, "How do you-What-How…?" she stood back up, looking over at Jane who stood up straighter, "What's happening to me?"

"For God's sake Lisbon, _nothing_ _bad is happening to you_," she stepped back, hands wrapping together over her chest, "I promise."

She shook her head, "Yeah, now I'm in a world filled with tall dark trees, 'pixies', and transparent men," she gestured over her shoulder, towards the direction of where Mira and Will must have gone several minutes ago.

"You have a point, but I'm not lying to you," he nodded his head, smiling at himself, "Now we should probably head after Mira and William…" he looked down at the pixie, his eyes flickering towards Lisbon as he pushed his arm forward, letting Rosina move out, her wings beginning to move as she took off into flight. A light trail of the dust followed her, swirling around both Jane and Lisbon. The lights flickered across Lisbon's face, highlighting her prominent features as numerous other pixies began to emerge from behind the bushes. Rosina stopped, gazing back down at Lisbon, her mouth opened wide. The glittery dust remained in motion around Lisbon, coiling and swirling around her. Her eyes opened wide as numerous voices gasped around them, the little pixies moving forward abruptly, trying to meet with Lisbon.

"It is true?"

"Are you really _the one_ to save us all?"

"Are you really that powerful witch?"

"Save us!"

Lisbon backed up, shielding her eyes. She let out a small cry, shaking her head and then trying to cover her hands over her ears. Small little pixie hands grasped at her larger ones, attempting in vain to pry her hands off her ears to get into her 'mind' to ask her these questions that she knew nothing about. Lisbon shook, stepping backwards a few steps before opening her eyes just a small measly crack.

"Woah! Stop!" Jane moved forward in Lisbon's direction, hands moving out in front of him to swat at the smaller creatures. Sounds of disapproval sounded from them as very few left, "Stop this!" he shouted, causing all this 'chaos' to stop. Little bodies moved to land on the ground, highlighting the ground around them. Their now glowing bodies licking over the skin of the two humans. Lisbon let go of her ears, opening her eyes fully to gaze down at the small pixies.

Rosina flew up, hands clasped together, "Please help us…" Lisbon tried to open her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when lights began to flicker across her face, almost becoming blinding. Numerous pixies began to fly upwards, almost moving in a swarm to scatter around, taking great flight to get away from where they were. They sped up at an amazing rate, leaving the two people on the ground to watch after them bewildered. Lisbon looked over at Jane, her eyebrows quirked upwards.

"Jane, now what was that?"

He shook his head, "I do not know," he paused, looking up at the sky once more, the creatures looking like stares moving rapidly in and out through the clouds, "They seemed desperate."

Lisbon nodded, looking up at the small dots littering the clouds. Her mouth parted as she shifted her footing, eyes scrunching up to watch as they slowly left her line of sight. A soft wind blew in, brushing her bangs into her eyes before it left. A soft whisper whirled around her, almost beckoning her…calling her to it.

"_Teresa…"_

Jane eyed her, shifting as he brushed his hand across hers. She looked over at him, her mouth closing immediately, "You okay?" she nodded, rolling her shoulders back as she breathed in, "All right then, now, let's follow after Mira, shall we?" she nodded again, ready to turn around and go in the direction they last saw Mira moving through the bushes.

When they pushed through the bushes, Will and Mira were not close, but within seeing distance. Lisbon looked over at Jane and just simply nodded as they began to wearily follow after their companions along the dark pathway.

Their journey was wordlessly completed. No one uttered even the simplest sound, just footsteps were heard. Occasionally Jane would glance over at Lisbon, just to make sure she was doing all right. She seemed to be fine, but was getting slightly anxious as she gazed up at the crystal clear night sky. This was how nights in this area where like, peaceful and beautiful, which was desired of the inhabitants.

Probably around two in the morning, they stood before an old wooden gate. Jane and Lisbon both came to stand next to Mira, who reached up with a fist and firmly knocked on the wood. Within moments the peekhole was slid back and dark eyes peered back down at them, "Who are ye?" he squinted at them shakily.

Mira stepped forward, "We wish to stay the night, just passing through," she gazed at the man behind the door intently, "We mean no harm," Jane saw Lisbon raise her eyebrow at the last statement. She did not understand what was really happening around them.

"All right," the man nodded, hopping down from whatever he stood on behind the solid object, "No harm," he repeated pulling on a crank to gradually open the door to the foreigners.

Mira stepped forward, glancing over her shoulder at the people behind her. Will moved up, coming into step right next to her as they started towards an old building that appeared from the middle ages. The petite agent's mouth almost dropped as she looked over at Jane, "Midieval taverns? What's next? Castles?" Jane pressed his hand on her lower back and pushed her through the gate so they could both pass through. The Halfling woman would not like to have to turn around to fetch them again. There would be a long tedious lecture on how he should control Lisbon, if that were possible.

"There are castles here, yes, just not around here," Lisbon shook her head, rolling her eyes. When she turned her head and glanced in the direction where the man behind the door stood, her eyes widened immediately.

He was nothing more than a Goblin. A short, dark creature with long pointed ears, black eyes, and wispy hair on the top of his head. The Goblin did not like being under Lisbon's gaze and bared his teeth at her, the obvious fangs sending a chill down her spine.

"I'm sorry," Jane said for her and grabbed her forearm, pulling her after where Mira and Will had gone off. He turned back to Lisbon, "Goblins are very ill-tempered," he paused, waiting for her to glance over to him, "So be viligant, you do not want to get on the wrong side of a Goblin, believe me I have been there," Lisbon was about to re-glance over her shoulder when Jane tightened his grip on her forearm. She looked at him and he just shook his head. She understood that he really did mean for her not to watch after the foul creature.

Nodding her head in defeat, she looked up and started following after the two other companions that had just disappeared into a tavern and inn. Jane made sure to follow a little after her, wanting to make sure she did not decide to make a sporadic run for it. That would be bad.

Entering the tavern and inn was a very nice feeling. The instant warmth of the fireplace hit his face and the happy late-night chatter still buzzed slightly around them as a few guests and native people sat at their tables holding up their beverages. Jane saw Mira speaking with the man at the bar, negotiating for a room no less. The man was a shape shifter, Jane could see it clearly. Possibly wolf, he could tell by the look in the man's eyes.

Mira turned away from the bar with an – to Lisbon's terms – antique metal key around another metal ring. She smiled and held it up and gestured towards the spiral staircase at the very end of the room. Jane's eyes followed hers and he felt quite relieved to go to sleep soon. He was grateful, though, that Lisbon followed Mira and Will without any fuss or disagreement. Smiling to himself, he began to follow his companions up the spiral staircase, going up two entire flights and levels. Once they had arrived on their desired floor, he could see the energy had completely diminished from Lisbon's body. He resisted the urge to place his hand on her shoulder when he saw her lean against the wall as the Halfling began unlocking the door to their room.

The door creaked as Mira stepped into it. When she stepped on one single floorboard, she heard the squeak emit beneath her. Hunching her shoulders up, she gazed back at them, "Room's fine," Lisbon pushed herself off the wall and began moving into the room along with the two other inhabitants, "Agent Lisbon, you go ahead and take that bed," she gestured towards the one by the window, "The bed may not be comfortable, but you'll be able to get a few hours," the weary agent nodded and sat down on the wire-frame bed and began removing her jacket slowly.

Mira turned back to Jane, "Patrick, could you please stay up for about two hours so I could sleep?" he nodded, knowing it would be best, even though he actually felt like sleeping, "Thank you," moved towards her own part of the room and began removing her shoes.

The window seat on the far end of the room suddenly looked so inviting.

**Yes, I know there was this ridiculous time period where I did not update and I apologise. I actually just now started school so updates probably won't happen too often, but hopefully it won't take me 3 months to update anything. **

**Review?  
**


	8. Laced With Something Deadly

**You guys have no idea how long I've had half of this done. Okay...maybe you do. I wrote 25% of this back in August. Another 25% in early September and the rest today. It was hard, annoying, but essential to write this one and hopefully...chapter nine won't take me so long to write. If so, feel free to club me in the head with any inanimate object you may choose. This is definitely not betaed and I have been sick for the past week...so the last half may suck. **

**I would like to thank everyone who subscribed, read, and favourited this go-round and you guys would be truly awesome if you were still reading. **

**MK: Godiva Fudge would really help...I really adore chocolate in general :)**

**dogeatdog: I'm really glad you're liking this. I was heavily influenced to write this from watching Lord of the Rings multiple times with my boyfriend...a year ago. But hopefully I can keep up with writing this. Especially when summer comes along :)**

**Disclaimer: No**

**Eight-Laced With Something Deadly **

Jane slowly began to stir awake. He knew he had only three to four hours of sleep so far, but that was all right. Those three to four hours were better than he normally got on a regular basis. Fully opening his eyes, blinking away the sleep from his eyes, he began sitting up, hands grasping at the fluffy white duvet. Blinking once more, he reached up and ran a hand through his curls, which now lay flat against his skull. He sat up straighter, breathing in the musky air. Yep, he was definitely back in the Grand Realm.

"Good morning," he looked towards the window to see William standing there, looking out the window. Jane felt bad for his son, the poor young man was unable to touch anything tangible nor was he able to actually experience life, "How did you sleep?" nor could his son sleep during the night.

Jane nodded, "All right I guess," he pushed the blankets off his body, swinging over in his now wrinkled suit. Looking around, he noticed both Mira and Lisbon were missing. Turning his attention back to William, he barely had to open his mouth before his son knew what he was going to ask.

"Mira took Agent Lisbon downstairs for a quick breakfast," William turned to look at him, "You should join them," he offered a small smile, his arm reaching up to rest on his hips. Jane nodded, standing up from the uncomfortable bed and stretching to relieve the built up tension in his lower back.

"Are you coming? I mean you do not have to stay here alone," William nodded, moving towards the door. Again, these were the times when Jane felt sorry for the young man. He knew his son loved Mira, would do anything for her if he could. He knew his son felt helpless most of the times, which made him seem down when he could not engage in the activities he and Mira could.

…

Lisbon sat on the wooden bench, hands clasped firmly together in her lap. Across from her was Mira, reaching forward to grasp onto her fresh water. Lisbon looked over at the bar, a man standing behind was staring right back at her as he cleaned out the cutlery. When watching him, she felt uneasy, as if he were currently conspiring against something against her.

"Teresa?" she glanced back over at Mira, "Are you feeling okay?"

She nodded, tossing one more weary look over her shoulder then back again, "I'm fine, just a little tired," the Halfling nodded, "Where are we going today?"

"To the Wood Elves," Mira smiled, "Very pretty there, but it could take some convincing to let us past. Last time Patrick and I were there he caused some trouble."

"How?"

Mira shook her head, "Oh, it's nothing. He only caused a marriage to one of the most respected high orders to fall apart," she looked up, now seeing a petite woman – probably another elf – come towards them, holding two bowls in her hands. The large man behind the bar stopped her with his hand on her upper arm. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear. She nodded up at him, turning back into the kitchen.

Lisbon leaned forward, her 'cop instincts' telling her to follow the petite woman back into the kitchen area to be sure that nothing was going wrong. She braced her hand on her thigh and was about to push herself up when Mira spoke.

"Where are you going?" Lisbon looked over at the Halfling.

"Uh," she could not think of anything to really tell the woman, "It's nothing," she turned back around to sit herself at the table once more. She brought her hands up on top of the table portion and began occupying herself with twiddling her thumbs.

For some reason, it felt like something was about to go horribly wrong.

…

Jane and William made their way down to the main tavern portion of the building. Scanning the area, he began his search for the two petite women: one blonde and one brunette. Lips slightly moving upwards at the sight of the two women sitting at a wooden table made him smile. Everything seemed to be in order and if her were to join them, everything would be great. Looking over his shoulder he gestured for William to follow him. The young man did as he was instructed, following him over to the tables. It didn't escape him that William did not sit down along with him, he just merely stood there after saying a brief good morning once again to Mira.

Jane sat down on the bench next to Lisbon, looking over and giving her a bright and cheery smile, "Good morning Lisbon," he leaned forward onto the wooden table and clasped his hands together, "What's for breakfast?"

Lisbon shrugged her shoulders and looked over at Mira, who simply opened her mouth, "I ordered kind of a usual meal for us. I could place an order for you?"

Jane nodded eagerly, his stomach rumbling was a dead give-away of his hunger, "Yes, thank you," Mira nodded and stood up, heading over to the bartender to place one more order. He then turned to Lisbon as he leaned back a little, placing his hands in his lap, "I assume you slept all right last night."

She shook her head, reaching over for the cup of water sitting on the edge of the table, "The bed was very lumpy," she took a brief sip before placing it back down on the table, "I'm still having trouble grasping all this."

He shrugged, "I'm not so surprised," he chuckled, "You should have actually known your entire life and yet you just discovered it," he glanced up at Mira, who was being 'shadowed' by William. The two of them brought a smile to his face – especially when the Halfling turned around and looked up at him with a delighted grin.

Lisbon followed his gaze, "What's their deal?"

Jane shrugged once more, "They're just old-fashioned lovebirds. Have technically been since the 1690's," Lisbon's eyes squeezed shut. Yes, she was definitely still adjusting, "Sorry," he spoke softly.

She raised her hand up to silence him, "It's all right," she paused, her mouth trying to form the correct words, "You don't know how hard this is..."

He smiled at her, "Yes I do," her gaze caught his, "I found out about all this," he waved his hand around a bit, "Stuff in the 1530's, back when witchcraft was definitely considered a practice of the devil."

She nodded, looking up to see her other two fellow travelers coming back to the table. She gave them a small smile as Mira sat across from them, William once more by her side, "They'll bring all our orders out in a few moments, not much long now."

"That's great, I'm really quite famished," Jane leaned forward, rubbing his hands together as he leaned over the table, elbows now resting upon it, "I can't really remember when I last ate."

"Well, if you would have stayed in the hospital you wouldn't have had to worry about that," Lisbon cast him a knowing look.

Jane thought about saying something to her about the usage of her power in the hospital, but he refrained from doing so. He decided this really wasn't the best time to bring that up at the moment. Maybe in a few years they could remember that moment and laugh about it – and also remember how stunned everyone in the lobby looked. He leaned back in his seat just in time to see Mira heading in their direction, William by her side. Jane's eyes instantly locked onto their hands, or more so William's. His ghostly hand was barely brushing hers. It really wasn't like they were holding hands, but he knew that Mira could at least feel a slight brush of air whenever he tried to do that. Jane fought back a sad smile and turned back to Lisbon just as the couple came to the table.

"Our order will be out shortly, which is great because I am feeling quite peckish," Lisbon smiled over at the Halfling, whose words sounded an awful lot like Jane in a way. Not many people in the world today used such words, it just seemed unnatural hearing them from a young in appearance woman.

Jane nodded, "Good," and he pulled himself forward just in time to see food be placed in front of the two woman accompanying him at the table. He looked up to the waitress and smiled at her, and she gave him an uneasy look as she placed the food in front of him.

Something was not right, he could just tell. The Elven waitress seemed off, and that was never a good sign when it came to being inside an eating establishment. For a split second, he thought about exchanging his meal, but the grumbling in his stomach kept him from doing so. Instead, he picked up his spoon and dipped it in the pasty liquid.

…

After they had all finished their meals, they ascended the staircase and into the room they occupied during the night. Jane and Mira carefully packed up the few belonging they had and slung them over their backs. The entire time Lisbon watched them interact while she sat on the lumpy mattress with a pillow laying over her lap. To her, it was weird seeing Jane this serious over something as silly as packing up for a trip, though he actually preferred the phrasing 'journey' over 'trip.'

"We should probably buy two horses, we can get to the Wood Elves much faster on horseback."

At this, Lisbon had perked up, "But there's three of us," she felt bad for not counting William, and she took a mental note to apologize to him later over the whole thing. Her comment had indeed caught Jane and Mira's attention. The duo halted their preparations and looked over at her, and instantly she felt awkward.

"We don't really have enough money to buy more than one horse," Mira said simply as she threw her knapsack over her back. "If Patrick does not insult the Wood Elves again this time around, they may give us a third horse," she flashed Jane a warning look and walked through the door.

William gave Jane and Lisbon one last lingering glance over his shoulder before he promptly followed Mira out of the room. Lisbon drew in a deep breath, and tried to mentally prepare herself for this journey. From what she heard, it was going to be long and extremely tedious. If she made it through this alive without killing Jane, she would forever and without a doubt be in debt of the powers that be.

"Uh, Lisbon, are you ready to go?" Jane asked her softly.

She turned to him and nodded, "As ready as I'll ever be," he nodded at her and placed a hand on her lower back to help move her through the door and towards the wooden staircase. She glanced over her shoulder one last time to see the door close on its own and she blinked. Her vision was slightly blurry, but when she blinked a second time it cleared out.

"Are you okay?" Jane's concerned voice was heard from her side.

Blinking furiously, she nodded again, "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just got something in my eye," she reached up and rubbed at it, hoping that whatever could have gotten in her eye was gone. One last blink, and she concluded that it was gone."

Jane smiled by her side, "All better?"

"Seriously Jane, I probably had some little piece of dust in my eye. I'll live."

…

Grace walked into the bullpen and looked around. It was empty for the most part. It was void of an obnoxious consultant and Lisbon had to leave town for a family emergency. Granted, Jane was recently shot and no doubt he was still in the hospital recovering from his wounds, but Grace couldn't help but feel some kind of eerie feeling of doubt that Jane is not in fact currently occupying a hospital bed. Tapping her chin, she moved to sit down onto her chair and gazed at the worn couch. Grace scrunched up her face and rubbed her chin lightly.

"If you keep that face for much longer, it'll stick like that," Grace abruptly turned to Cho, "Rigsby has gone to visit Jane at the hospital because he's surprised he hasn't shown up here yet."

Cho sat down at his desk. He leaned back and momentarily studied Grace's intense features. The rookie agent was thinking rather deeply, and due to the fact that she was intently staring at Jane's couch, it had something to do with the consultant.

"Do you ever get the feeling that Jane is unique?" she asked, running her fingertip along her bottom lip.

Without missing a beat, Cho spoke, "Yes."

Grace shook her head, "No, I mean _special _unique. Like he's much more different that we think."

Cho shook his head, "No, I don't think that could be possible."

The rookie agent opened her mouth and was about to speak when her iPhone chirped beside her. She jumped and looked down at the touch screen and slid her thumb over it. She pressed the 'speaker' button and held it up to her mouth.

"Wayne?"

She heard a heavy sigh, "_We may have a problem. Jane wasn't in his room. And since the power outage he's been missing._"

Grace's eyes opened in alarm and she clutched onto the iPhone tighter, "Why weren't we notified?"

"_Because someone thinks they saw him exit the hospital with the boss and his sister._"

When Rigsby finished his sentence, Grace looked up at Cho. She almost felt like quirking her eyebrow in his direction because all of this was so incredibly…weird. Why would Jane leave with Lisbon during a power outage? And isn't he an only child?

"But…Jane never mentioned any siblings…"

"No, he hasn't. But I wouldn't be surprised," Grace looked up at Cho when he spoke as he came up to stand before her desk, "Rigsby, do we know her name?"

"_Yeah…Mira Calkins. She's his younger half-sister through his dad and is a junior at Sacramento State University. She also mentioned to one of the nurses that she's from New Jersey…_"

Cho turned towards Grace, "I want to know more about Mira Calkins. I think there's more to her than just being a student. Jane doesn't have any siblings – half or not – so he could be in danger. Rigsby, see if you can find anyone else that can remember Jane from that evening."

"_Got it_."

Grace nods, "On it," and she clicks 'end' on her phone.

…

It was happening again – her vision blurring that is. Ever since it first happened back at the inn, it periodically had come up until now…it came up frequently. After six hours of travelling, her vision has blurred multiple times and she feels as if she has grown extremely near sighted. It was making her head hurt and dizzy spells were hitting her left and right from it. Her stomach lurched and her arms tightened around Jane's waist. She groaned and suddenly felt the need to vomit, but swallowed it down. Her stomach was clenching painfully and she let out a slight whimper of pain.

"Lisbon, are you sure you're okay?"

She nods against his back, "M'fine Jane, just feeling a little nauseous."

Lisbon opens her eyes and sees Mira's horse dart forward and do a loop around until she halted it before Jane's. The Halfling narrowed her eyes at Lisbon, inspecting her almost, and flicked the reins so the horse would move closer. Suddenly the Halfling's eyes widened and she moved forward, her hand grabbing onto Lisbon's chin and turning her head to the side.

"You are not fine!" she looked over at Jane, "Patrick, we have to go _now_!" she flicked the reins again and completely went around Jane's horse and started off before him at a high speed, "Come on!" she yelled, "Move!"

He looked over his shoulder and his breath got caught in his throat. Dark circles were present underneath Lisbon's eyes and her skin had grown sickly pale. His eyes widened and moved a hand down to wrap around her insanely hot ones and flicked the reins on his steed. The horse neighed and lurched forward at an almost breakneck speed. Something was wrong, and he now knew that if they did not get to the Wood Elves in time, Lisbon may not make it to saving the Celestial Realm.

"Jane? What's going on?"

He shook his head, "You're going to be fine, Teresa, we'll get you there as soon as we can."

He couldn't afford to lose her. The entire Celestial Realm couldn't afford to lose her. If something happened to her or if she died, then darkness would overtake the entire Realm and rapidly creep into Earth. The world as they know it would become a dark and horrible place, and many will perish. This would all be over before it ever really started. She, the last hope, could not die merely before she could even use her power to its full capacity.

She could not die.

**I was originally going to write more...BUT my brain is overloaded, I have a lot to do, and there's always room for it in chapter nine :)**

**Preview:**

**Jane leaned over her and cupped her cheeks in his calloused hands. He was breathing deeply from exertion as he tried to quickly evaluate Lisbon's condition. Her lips were blue, her skin was ghostly pale and cold, and her body was limp against the tree stump. There was a soft illuminating glow pulsating around her, and he knew she was barely alive. She was rapidly fading. Dying. Only Elven magic could possibly save her now, not any other type of modern medicine back on Earth could repair the damage done to her by the poison. **

**"They are coming," he turned and looked up, seeing Mira holding onto the reins of her horse and leaning into it with her eyes closed. When her eyes opened, he was shocked to see them bloodshot. Just like Lisbon's two hours ago. **


	9. Poisoned

**I am horrible. I said I'd have this up weeks ago, but it never came out and I apologise for that! Heck, I apologise for just taking too damn long to post it in the first place! If you are still with this story, I really want to thank you all. I also want to extend a thank you to all those who reviewed, subscribed, and favourited this story. It was all very well appreciated. **

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own The Mentalist. **

**Nine – Poisoned **

When he took his first glance at her face, Jane knew that Lisbon had been poisoned. By what exactly, he did not know. All he knew was that it was now a race against time to get to the Wood Elves, the only people within the Celestial Realm that had the power or ability to save Lisbon's life. They are also the only people that can surely be trusted. It would be unheard of for a Wood Elf to harm another without a completely moral reason, and saving the entire Celestial Realm to continue life is something they would never attempt to botch.

Jane fidgeted on his horse. The rain that had been pelting down on them for the past twenty-five plus minutes has caused his clothing to stick to his body like a second skin. It was also very reminiscent of something a person would see in one of those cheesy movies where something highly dramatic was about to happen in an extremely tense situation. In sense…this is a highly tense and dramatic situation. Rain was falling rigourously, Lisbon was dying probably because of an assassination attempt and leaning against him limply, and he had no idea where he was going. He is too concerned for Lisbon's well-being to know where he is going, and figures that if he follows Mira through the forest, they'll eventually get where they need to be.

"Lisbon, are you still with me?" he asks loudly over the booming rain.

She shifts behind him and moans, "I feel like I have the flu," she mumbles incoherently and wraps her arms tighter around his torso.

He desperately wished that they could have stopped at the last town they passed, but they would not be able to help her. Whatever she had been poisoned with is beyond their medical capabilities. They had indeed stopped an hour ago so Mira could get an accurate look at Lisbon to see if she could possibly heal the woman, but she could not. Mira is no Wood Elf despite being half Elven. Her people do not specialize in medical remedies. When the Halfling concluded that she could not help Lisbon, she continued to stress that they could not stop even to see if a town or village could possibly help her. It would waste precious time, and Lisbon would most likely not make it. He hated this situation – it was killing him – and sometimes he had to fight the urge to turn away from Mira and head towards a village, but when Will looked at him, he knew that the Halfling was correct. Lisbon would die if they went to a village.

He is snapped out of his thought process when Lisbon starts to cough. It sounds harsh and he feels her entire body shake behind him. He momentarily looks over his shoulder and sees nothing new: she's wet, pale, and her eyes are bloodshot and droopy. He looks forward and snaps the reins again. She ceases her coughing and he feels more at ease.

"Are you having trouble breathing?" she wasn't wheezing, which he supposed was good, but he did not like the sound of her cough. "Lisbon?" she began to cough again, her body shaking violently and he snapped the reins again and made the horse move faster behind Mira. He stilled when he felt something warm hit his hand, but then wash away by the rain. He felt it again momentarily after and looked down quickly just in time to see blood moving down the length of his knuckles.

"Mira!" he yelled over the rain. "Mira we have to stop!"

He tugged on the horse's reins and unwrapped her arms from his waist. He maneuvers all but gracefully and lands on his feet and wraps his arms around her petite waist and pulls her off the horse. She is still coughing and feels warmer than ever against his touch as he pulls her to the ground and to prop her up against a tree trunk. He leans forward and brushes her fringe from her forehead and looks at her glassy and bloodshot eyes. This is not good.

"What is wrong?" he hears Mira run up behind him and she stops, her eyes gazing at Lisbon. Behind him, he hears the Halfling's breath catch in her throat, and he instantly knows that Lisbon is in far worse shape than she was only a couple of minutes ago.

"Patrick, you stay here and I'll go find them."

He hears her turn and begin to run away back to her horse. Jane turns around and is about to call out to her, but sees that she is gone from his line of sight. Dread begins to build up within his being and his heart begins to beat wildly inside his chest. Shutting his eyes and fighting the urge to punch a nearby tree, he turns back and reopens his eyes to gaze at Lisbon. Her shoulders are hunched forward as she tries to cover her mouth with a fist as she coughs. He cannot tell if tears are running down the sides of her cheeks or not, but he can tell that she is in great pain. Any person who would take a simple glance into her eyes would know that the pain she suffers from is great, and he wishes he could take it all upon himself.

Jane leans forward and grabs onto her other wrist and presses his thumb down, "Breathe Teresa, breathe," he says and she shakes her head as if to tell him that she cannot. Looking over his shoulder frantically to see if Mira has returned, and she has not, he turns around quickly and grabs onto her upper arms. "Just breathe," he looks into her eyes and she nods her head weakly and tries to breathe.

He nods at her, "Focus on your breathing. In and out. Inhale and exhale," she tries to do as he instructs, but is barely able to do so. Jane knows that tears have begun to form in his eyes, and is thankful that she cannot see them because of the rain. Only he can feel them running hotly down the sides of his cheeks.

"Focus, Teresa, focus."

She nods and takes one breath and suddenly her body begins to glow. He moves back only slightly and watches the glow become more intense then quiet back down. After a few seconds, he leans forward and presses a hand to the side of her neck, feeling the slow pulse against his fingertips and he instantly knows that the pulsating glow is going at the same speed as her heartbeat. Whatever reason why this is happening…he knows that it is not good. It is possibly her body's last defense to keeping her alive before it dies, but seeing as her eyes were still open, he saw this as a good thing.

"I'm sorry, Jane," she takes one last weary breath and slumps back against the tree stump, her eyes closed and her body still. The only thing he sees is the soft glowing light illuminating her face.

Jane leans over her and cups her cheeks in his calloused hands. He is breathing deeply from exertion as he tried to quickly evaluate Lisbon's condition. Her lips are turning blue, her skin is a ghostly pale and cold, and her body is limp against the tree stump. The soft illuminating glow remains pulsating around her dying body, and he knew she is now barely alive. She is rapidly fading. Dying. Only Elven magic could possibly save her now, not any other type of modern medicine back on Earth could repair the damage done to her by the poison.

"They are coming," he turns and looks up behind him. He sees Mira holding onto the reins of her horse and leaning into it with her eyes closed. When her eyes opened, he is shocked to see them bloodshot. Just like Lisbon's two hours ago.

"Mira," he breathes, the newfound hope that he has been feeling as of late suddenly deflating, "Your eyes…"

The Halfling shifts and leans further into the horse, "I know, Patrick. But I cannot die. I am just as immortal as you are," she grit her teeth and he knows a wave of nausea hits her body and she takes a gasp of hair, "William is with the Wood Elves and is coming. He saw me growing ill and wished to come with me."

Jane nods and turns back at Lisbon, the glowing around her has become duller and he reaches for her again. He grabs a hold of her wrist and just holds onto it. Something tells him that when the glow leaves her, that she will be dead.

He turns back to look at the Halfling, "Can you do anything? Can you do anything right now to save her?"

Mira shakes her head, "This poison is beyond my knowledge. I do not know how to fix any of this."

Jane shakes his head, "No, do you know how to temporarily revive her?"

She does not even make an effort to move her head this time, "Patrick, I cannot do anything for her right now."

He lets go of her wrist and looks at the Halfling before him darkly, "Well can you try God dammit?" It was out of character he knew to speak her this way, but she needed it. They needed to try everything to help save Lisbon's life.

Mira nods weakly and pushes herself away from the horse. She takes a couple of hesitant small steps and motions for Jane to move over. He does so, and she kneels a couple of centimeters from Lisbon's body and raises her hand. Jane watches her gulp and place her hand on Lisbon's forehead and run it down the side of her face. Mira's lips move softly and she begins to glow brightly.

Jane's breath catches in his throat when he sees the light in Lisbon's body go out and her head moves over to the side. He lets out a cry and tries to move closer to her, but is stopped when he knocks into an invisible shield that Mira had placed between them. She must have known that Lisbon was nearing the end and that her light would extinguish soon, and therefore created the shield.

Mira closes her eyes and moves her head back, her lips moving and her hand travelling down the length of Lisbon's neck before finally resting on her chest. A shot of a sporadic white beam shot through Mira's being and hit Lisbon's chest, causing her petite body to stiffen and her eyes to quickly open in shock. Mira's eyes and mouth opened in shock and Jane could suddenly hear her deafening scream and felt the shield disintegrate beneath his fingers. A bright light moved through Mira and over to Lisbon, and this temporarily blinded Jane. He could not see and he felt as if he were looking directly into the white-hot sun. The heat he felt coming off of the white light was hot and he could no longer feel the rain coming down upon them.

Then everything stopped. The light around Mira had stopped and transferred to Lisbon's body. The petite senior agent's eyes were closed yet again, but Jane was confident that she was alive. He pushes himself forward and cups Lisbon's cheeks again and she gives a soft uncomfortable moan, and he chuckles in relief.

Jane is relieved to see her green eyes open and dart around weakly. She tries to breath, but has some difficulty. Her body stiffens and she gulps and closes her eyes. Jane straightens himself up and runs his thumbs down the sides of her cheeks. The light around her was still glowing brightly, and he felt as if they had just achieved something great. His smile growing and feeling some more hope spark into his being, he turned and looked down at the dull body of Mira lying against the wet leaves.

Her skin is grey and her eyes are shut. She looks dead, but she cannot die, or could she if given the opportunity? Then how come she looks like she just did?

Suddenly behind him he hears the hooves of horses charging quickly towards him. "Patrick Jane!" his eyes snap backward to see large horses of various colours behind him. The people, petite pale freckle-skinned elves with big green eyes, came into view in dark brown cloaks wrapped around their bodies to shield them from the rain.

"We need you to step away from her," the leader of the group said, "She is in good hands." Jane feels reluctant to move away from her, but knows he has to. The quicker the Wood Elves can take a look at her, the sooner she can be healed and back to being Teresa Lisbon again, to an extent.

Jane stands to his feet and looks at him directly, "I hope so," and walks towards his horse and begins to mount it. His eyes look down at Mira's body and his eyes search for his son, William, and see him gazing at the Halfling. Once again, he feels pity for the young man. William comes to stand beside his horse and does not stop from looking down at Mira.

"What happened to her?"

Jane looks at the reins that he pulled into his hands, "She saved Lisbon. If she hadn't done what she did…then Lisbon would have died before the Wood Elves were able to get to her."

William shook his head, "She's not dead. She can't die."

Jane sighs. He always thought that Mira could not die. He has seen her stabbed, shot, and nearly beheaded and yet she has remained alive all these centuries. But this time he had a daunting suspicion that she has passed on. Sighing again, he looks back and sees the leader pick up Lisbon and begin to situate her for the transportation. She is starting to grow dim again, and it makes his heart stop at the thought of her glow going out completely again.

He shut his eyes and flicks the reins of his horse.

…

It takes them close to thirty minutes to arrive in the central home of the Wood Elves. They live in a primarily secluded and highly forested area to protect themselves from outsiders or any dangerous threats. Invisible walls surround their home and projects a mirror of the forest around them to keep the outsiders away, and therefore keeps the thriving area safe and secure. Only those who know where it is, can truly find it.

Jane looks around and deduces that it has remained the same over all these years. The same stream ran through the middle of it all and there were tall, huge trees everywhere. Elves moved about according to their everyday duties, despite the rain, and went in and out of shops. Children scurried home with their cloaks pulled up over their heads and to arrive home by suppertime. Jane smiles at the simplicity of so many lives here, but looks on forward towards the grand structure before them. It is not considered to be a palace of any sorts, but it is where the Wood Elves' royalty resides. From what Jane understands, the same king that hates him is still holding his position. This same king has opened up his home for the weary and ailing travelers, and Jane can't help but wonder if the king has changed at all.

Looking down, Jane sees William standing beside him and his horse. If he would not go through them, he knew William would be clutching tightly onto the horse with the same expression of anguish present on his face that he has now due to Mira.

"I always thought we were going to run away together." Jane looks down at the young man with sadness in his eyes, "I loved her so much, and now she's gone."

Jane felt a pang of sadness in his heart. It is similar to the one he felt when his wife and child were killed a few years ago due to his negligence and stupidity. He had not listened when he was told not to interact with the woman, but he did so anyway. Pretty much all of this was because of him. Even William's immortality – or ghostly sentence – he considers his fault. If he had not begged Mira to make him immortal all those years ago before he was going to be sent to hang, then he would not be in this state. If he had just pressured him further to run away into the forest and go to the Celestial Realm – where he really belonged – then everything would have turned out so much better. But then again, Lisbon may not still be alive.

Jane tosses his head back and gives a groan. He feels a headache begin to form and he curses himself. He is a selfish man, that is what it is. He could not bear to see his son face the gallows and probably die, so he requested that Mira make him immortal – and that backfired on both her and him making them both immortal. Sadly William immortal to with a catch. Now after all these years, the two of them have been unable to engage in any kind of tangible displays of affection, and it makes him feel horribly guilty whenever he sees the looks of longing in their eyes. Then finally there's Lisbon…yes, he knows that she needs to live. Hell everyone knows that, but so much has happened between them that he can not put a number to that will show how selfish several of his actions have been towards her in these last couple of years.

They move into the castle-like structure momentarily and Jane realizes that it is just as beautiful and complex as it was all those years ago. Like everything else, nothing has changed much in here either.

"We're here," William says glumly and moves away from Jane. Jane watches his son move after the elves taking away Mira's still body into another room. He doesn't even bother with the door. He just goes through it and Jane smiles sadly and looks back down at his hands clasped together on the reins.

"Patrick Jane," he looks up at the sound of his name and sees a rather small man with long auburn hair standing before him, "She is in good hands, and our best healers and herbalists will be taking a look at her. I suggest that you go see the king now," he gestures towards the end of the hall.

Jane nods and gets off of his horse. The horse lets out a sound of protest when a few elves come to take him, but Jane shakes it off. They will not hurt the animal.

He starts towards the door and he takes in a deep breath. Pushing away all thoughts of possibly being throttled by the king, he pushes open the large door and steps inside. The room he enters is just as breathtaking as the rest of the building, if not more. There are pillars everywhere with ivy trailing up and around it. There is a natural stream running around the room, a soft sound immediately fills his ears. It's calming, and Jane knows why the king keeps it almost instantly.

"Ah, Patrick Jane, it has been awhile," Jane shifts awkwardly and looks up at the man standing before him.

Jane nods, "King Alasdair," and gives him a slight wave.

King Alasdair, like most of the Wood Elves, is on the short side. He stands at about five foot eight and has broad shoulders. His auburn hair is pulled back into a long braid down his back and his green eyes gaze at Jane intently as he takes a couple of steps forward. The robe he wears around his body almost glitters.

"I hear that you have a woman by the name of Teresa Lisbon. An extremely powerful witch in your possession." Jane did not like the way Alasdair referred to Lisbon as a 'possession' as she most certainly was not. "And that she is also the daughter of the original woman that was destined to rid the Celestial Realm of John le Rouge like she was supposed to."

Jane nods, "Yes, I did bring her here with Mira, but there are a couple of setbacks."

The king nods, "I am aware. I am also aware of the Princess Mira's demise, and I am skeptical on how she died. She is immortal, she cannot die."

Jane shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets, "I thought she couldn't die too, but I was proven wrong today," he looks down at his shoes and still feels a pang of sadness and guilt in his being over Mira's death. "Her body will be taken care of and word will be sent to Caelestis."

Caelestis is another beautiful Elvish-dominated city governed by a monarchy. Mira was born there centuries ago into the royal family, though certain circumstances have changed and Mira really is not considered a princess to Caelestis.

King Alasdair nods in confirmation, "Yes, I send word to Caelestis. The royal family will not approve of this."

When the king turns around, Jane instantly rolls his eyes. There are highly complex reasons as to why she no longer resides there, and no doubt the royal family will be pleased to know that Mira is no longer living among them.

"Now," Jane gazes back at the king as he slowly turns around, her robe definitely glittering in the light around them, "How did this happen?"

"We ate at a tavern earlier today for breakfast…" he starts, but stops when the King looks at him as if he wants him to just continue on, "I think someone was planted there to poison Lisbon and Mira's food. Lisbon is highly valuable to us all, and no doubt John le Rouge would want her dead and gone as soon as possible," he hates the thought of this, but he knows it is true. With Lisbon gone from both Earth and the Celestial Realm, then John le Rouge or "Red John" would be free to take over whatever he wants.

King Alasdair narrows his eyes at the blond man, "And were you there? Where were you when the poisoning occurred? You should have known this was all an assassination attempt."

Jane looks down at his feet, feeling extreme guilt over all of this. Ever since Lisbon had started showing signs of being ill from poison, he could not stop thinking about the "what if's" of it all. Taking a deep breath, he looks back up to the king, "I was not there."

Anger flashes before the king's eyes and Jane takes a step back. Honestly the king should have known that is what his answer was going to be and nothing else. Alasdair takes a step closer to him and pulls his hands into tight fists.

"You will be punished."


End file.
